


The Potter: The Reapers of Shan Shen

by TheGeekyFolkteller



Series: The Potter: Series 1 [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Chinese Grim Reaper, Crossover, Gen, Heibai Wuchang, Hogwarts First Year, Intelligent Harry Potter, Invisibility Cloak (Harry Potter), Minor Original Character(s), Mystery, Original Character(s), Ravenclaw Hermione Granger, Regeneration, Reincarnation, Shan Shen (Doctor Who), Sonic Screwdriver, The Potter, Time Lord, Time Lord Harry Potter, Virus, Zombies, ghost - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 37,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24246430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGeekyFolkteller/pseuds/TheGeekyFolkteller
Summary: When Vernon Dursley decided to get rid of his nephew, Harry Potter would have died if not for a small pocket watch. Reborn as a Time Lord, Harry and his two companions travel to the planet Shan Shen, where they uncover a sinister force that prays upon the sick. Intelligent!Timelord!Harry. First in 'The Potter' Universe. Series 1.
Series: The Potter: Series 1 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1751326
Comments: 30
Kudos: 29





	1. The Silly Old Watch

Disclaimer- So this'll be the first time I write a story for Harry Potter OR Doctor Who! Very exciting, don't you think? I was just browsing through the site and couldn't find any stories that did this storyline the way I'd like seeing it done, so I thought; "Hey! Why don't you do it yourself?" I hope you have as much fun with it as I am, and I hope that this starts off a series of exciting adventures that we'll all share.

The Reapers of Shan Shen

Chapter 1-The Silly Old Watch

On the night before September First, in a small bedroom on the second floor of Number Four Privet Drive, a little boy sat on his bed staring at an old broken pocket watch. His fingers danced across the strange archaic design etched across its surface, his eyes glassy as he thought of its significance.

Eleven-year-old Harry Potter was what you might call a contemplative child. While most children his age spent their time asking questions about the world around them, Harry tended to ponder over what he observed instead to figure it out himself. This was due mainly to the fact that his relatives, the Dursleys, discouraged him from asking questions and often punished him by way of isolation.

Now, this is not to say that he never asked questions, but any inquiry he may have had was met with a slap in the mouth and a week without food, so he made it a point to keep his questions internal. Thus, young Harry spent many days of his life taking in everything he could, be it from the many books he read from the local library or the natural world around him, or the rare human interaction he was blessed with before the Dursleys snuffed it out. This contemplative attitude gave him a certain intelligence that set himself apart from other children his age, allowing him the smarts to get out of many situations that would have gotten him killed long ago.

Still, life was hard living with Dursleys. He was given no iota of human decency and was only ever referred to as 'boy' or 'freak'. He was forced to do all the choirs around the house while his relatives lazed about, and was punished severely if he failed to complete his tasks, and he held many scars across his body as proof of their extremity. He wasn't allowed to eat more than meager scraps, despite the fact that he was the one forced to make the food for his ungrateful 'family'. Because of Aunt Petunia's lies when talking to the neighbors, everyone thought him to be a delinquent and a thief, earning him the general disdain from the adults. He even had to hide his intelligence from showing in his schoolwork, as he would be beaten if he in any way showed up his idiot of a cousin Dudley, who repeatedly bullied him and scared any of the other school children who would have wanted to be his friend.

But the one thing that provoked the most hatred from the Dursleys was simultaneously Harry's salvation, and that was magic. You see Harry was a wizard, as his father was before him. His mother was also a witch, something his aunt once was jealous of and then grew to hate. Aunt Petunia had sworn long ago that she'd put that foolishness behind her, and it only fueled her hatred when she was forced to raise her sister's 'freakish' spawn.

Harry, of course, was unaware of all of this until about a month ago. It all started when a letter addressed to him found its way into the Dursley's mail. So shocked that anybody would send a letter to him, he never thought to hide the letter before his relatives saw it. Quickly it was confiscated from him and he had been locked into his cupboard under the stairs, and the letter was disposed of. Soon after he was moved to the small guest bedroom on the second floor.

That would have been the end of it, but soon more letters came, first two, then six, then a dozen. Day after day the number increased until, finally, it became too much for the Dursleys to take, so they packed everything they had and fled to a shack set upon a rock in the middle of the sea. The Dursleys thought themselves quite clever after that, that was until, as the clock stroked twelve ringing in Harry's eleventh birthday, there came a heavy knock on the door.

What followed still had Harry's head spinning when he thought of it. The door had been knocked off its hinges by a giant of a man who introduced himself as Rebus Hagrid, who had been sent to collect him for his trip to gather his school supplies. This led to a heated argument between Hagrid and Vernon Dursley, who turned a funny shade of purple as Hagrid explained to Harry not only his status as a wizard, but the truth about how his parents died. He had never believed the story the Dursley told him, never accepting their lie that his mother and father were worthless drunks who wrapped themselves around a tree one night. Though, Harry thought sorrowfully, the truth wasn't much better.

After a string of threatening words and a new pig's tail attached to Dudley's backside, Hagrid took Harry to London where they rode the tub to the Leaky Cauldron on Charing Cross Road. There Harry was given his first taste to the level of fame he held in the wizarding world. It was certainly a startling and uncomfortable experience to have over twenty wizards and witches crowding him so that they could shake his hand. Thankfully Hagrid was able to easily part the crowd for them so that they could head to the entrance for Diagon Alley, and when it opened the boy's discomfort was quickly forgotten.

Hagrid had had a smile on his face as he led young Harry to their first destination; Gringotts. The Wizarding Bank had left Harry perplexed by its wonky architecture, then startled as he was led inside to meet the fierce-looking goblins. Hagrid quickly assured him that he was safe as long as he didn't do anything to insult the creatures, then ushered him to the nearest desk.

"What is it?" The goblin had said with barely concealed annoyance, glaring down at them from his throne-like desk.

"Mornin'," Hagrid said, holding himself straight, "We've come ter' take some money outta Mr. Potter's vault."

The goblin quirked his eyebrow, leaning forward as a vicious smile graced his lips, "And does Mr. Potter have his key?" he asked, his eyes boring into Harry's.

Before Harry could reply, Hagrid gave out a grunt, "Aye, got it here somewhere." he said as he patted his coat pockets. The Goblin frowned and leaned back, looking somewhat disappointed as Hagrid pulled his hand out quickly, a solid gold key resting in his palm, "Got it!"

Handing over the key, the goblin inspected it for a moment, before flicking his eyes towards them, "One moment, please." He jumped from his seat and scurried off.

Minutes later the goblin returned with another accompanying him, his companion dressed expensively and his head held high as if to show off his importance, "Mr. Potter? My name is Rawback, I'm the account manager for Lily Potter's personal holdings, opened April Seventeenth, Nineteen-Seventy Nine, set up by your father James Potter. If you would come with me, please?"

"Ah well, Ah don' know abou' tha'..." Hagrid spoke up, looking rather unsure of himself, "Professor Dumbledore tol' me only ta 'ave youn' Harry takin' to his trust vault."

"Mr. Hagrid," Rawback started, giving the giant an irritated glare, "My office was given specific orders to deliver certain articles to young Mr. Potter upon his eleventh birthday, including a letter written by Lily Potter herself! Surely you would not deny Mr. Potter such a personal item as the parting words of his own mother?"

Hagrid still looked rather unsure of himself, so Harry decided to give him a little push, "Please Hagrid? I'm sure it wouldn't take long, and, well, I'd really like to know what my mum had to say. I don't even remember what she looked like, having things she wanted to give me would be fantastic." He looked up at Hagrid as he said this, his bright sad emerald eyes pleading with the man.

That seemed to bring Hagrid to a decision, quickly muttering under his breath, "Damn them Dursleys… oh, alrigh'. I suppos' it wouldn' hur' for ya to hav' wha' yer mum left ya."

Harry smiled and hugged him, before turning toward Rawback who was waiting for him, "Lead the way, Mr. Rawback."

Rawback nodded, leading Harry into a private office in the back of the bank, sitting down behind his desk before waving his hand to lock the door, "Now then, Mr. Potter, I have here within my possession one item of which was left here by Lily Potter during the Spring of Seventy-Nine."

"Just Harry, please. You're older than me so it seems wrong for you to be calling me 'Mr'." Harry insisted, earning a genuine smile from the elderly goblin.

"So be it, Harry. Now about four months into her pregnancy, Mrs. Potter had her account updated so that the item that is in my possession would be delivered to you upon your eleventh birthday."

"Six months later, she returned with the aforementioned letter to be delivered alongside said item. Regrettably, she was not seen again until after her death on October Thirty-First, Nineteen-Eighty One." Rawback opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a black ornate box with a letter strapped onto the top, "I now hand these over to you."

Harry, who had been holding his breath since the start of Rawback's explanation, shakingly reached up to take the box, cradling it in his hands as if it might break. Untying the letter, he broke open the wax seal on it and withdrew the parchment inside, unfolding it as he slowly began to read.

To My Darling Son,

I hope that you have lived a happy life from the moment you were born to the time you have read this letter. We are living in troubled times, and I can only hope that I and James have been there every step of the way. Sadly, if we have not then that means we are dead, and if that is so I want you to know that we're sorry, baby. We're sorry we couldn't be there for you, to love you and tell you that everything was alright. I only hope that Sirius and Alice have been there to see you become the good young man I know you will become.

Regardless, there are certain items I would like to give you now. If I am there I could explain to you in more detail than what I will put down in this letter, but as it is, the items inside the box you have received once belonged to my father, John Evans. Your grandfather was a great man, Harry, and a humble one, too, but there were many things about him that were a mystery. These items were a few of them. He never could remember where he had gotten them nor what they were for, but something inside of him told him to keep them close at all times.

However, before he died, my father passed them on to me and told me that if I could, to uncover the mystery behind them. But if not, he wanted me to pass them on to my children, so that they could stay in the family as a silly little Heirloom. Yes, I know, Daddy could be weird sometimes. But, I want to keep my promise, and I now ask that you hold onto that promise, too. I want you to remember that, though you are a Potter, you are also an Evans, and you should never let that go.

And Harry, if anything, remember these words my father told me when I was a little girl, and hold them close to your heart.

Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.

I love you, sweetheart.

Lily

-P.S. Don't open the box until you are alone.

Harry lifted his head and sniffed, rubbing his eyes to wipe away the tears he only now realized he was shedding. A Family Heirloom. He hugged the letter close to his chest for a moment, reveling in the feeling that his mother had loved him and left him something so important.

With their business concluded, Rawback escorted young Harry back out into the lobby where Hagrid was waiting, and the two were brought down into the caverns below Gringotts to pick up the money Harry would need for their shopping.

The rest of the day was spent going around the different shops of the alley, picking up everything he needed for Hogwarts. By the time they were finished, Harry was sporting a new trunk packed with books, quells, potions ingredients, school robes, and a wand that Harry kept with the rest of his stuff. Hagrid had even gone ahead and purchased the most beautiful snowy-white owl Harry had ever seen for him as a birthday present.

Still, when it was over Harry had to return to Privet Drive, while Hagrid passed to him a ticket for the train at King's Cross Station leaving on September 1st. They parted ways, and Harry was grateful that the Dursleys hadn't yet arrived back from the island shack. Taking the key from under the pot by the front door, Harry quietly entered the house and made his way up the stairs with his new belongings, hiding them so that the Dursleys wouldn't take them away. After he was finished putting away his things, he sat on his bed with the black box that had been left to him by his mother. He couldn't help but appreciate the strange markings decorating the box, funny little circles and lines that criss crossed each other in fascinating designs. Taking a deep breath he opened the latch on the lid and peered inside, taking on an inquisitive look as he gazed at the items inside.

First, and most notable, was a strange blue and silver cylinder, marked with little knobs and buttons. Curious, Harry picked it up and pressed one of the buttons, electing a low buzzing sound from the strange device. Frowning he placed the cylinder back into the box and pulled out a smaller box that one might put a ring inside. Opening the box he found a small gold key on a chain that seemed to almost glow when he touched it.

Finally, Harry pulled out an old silver pocket watch that held the same strange design as the box it was placed in. Out of all the objects in the box this held most of his fascination. He had never owned something that looked so expensive before, and he took pride in the fact that it was all his. It was certainly beautiful, the strange symbols ordaining giving off a mystical feel to it.

The watch would continue to provoke Harry's fascination for the next month as he prepared for his journey to Hogwarts. Harry made it his mission to read each and every book he had purchased from Diagon Alley, which included not only his school books, but others that he had picked up so that he could learn everything he could about the world his parents had lived in. Titles like The Art of Defence: A Guide to Counteracting the Dark Arts, Famous Wizards Through the Ages, and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts were just some of his list of material that he soaked up like a sponge, more obscure tomes dealing with runes and alchemy on the side.

And yet, he always came back to the watch, which led him to sit there, on his bed alone on the night before he went off to Hogwarts, just staring at the silver object. Why was it so interesting? He wondered, his fingers traced the lines on its surface, taking in its beauty. No matter how many times he put it away, he always seemed to go back to take it out again. It was almost as if it were calling to him, wanting him to keep it as close to him as possible. Everything was packed and sorted except for the watch, because the watch didn't want to be put away. Not now, not ever.

No, in fact, the watch wanted to be opened. 'And why not?' The boy mused. After all, pocket watches were meant to be used and carried around by distinguished folk, and most of all, they were meant to be opened so as to tell the time. It was such a pretty watch, after all, it would be a right shame not to peer inside.

So, it was that night, after being unnoticed for almost fifty years with two members of the Evans family ignoring its existence, that the silly old pocket watch was opened.

-/ↀ\\-

Author's Note: So what did you think? Good so far? Wondering where this is going? Hope to see you next time on our grand adventure!


	2. Harry's Demise

The Reapers of Shan Shen

Chapter 2-Harry's Demise

Vernon Dursley was not a good man. Far from it, he was a con man and a liar, who only got ahead in the world by lying and bullying the competition. That was how he had made manager at Grunnings, the factory where he worked. He also was a man who dealt with shady people, a rather hypercritical thing to do considering that he often talked ill of such degenerate people he dealt in criminal activities.

This, of course, was how he was able to keep the treatment of his freak nephew a secret. A little bribery here and there with social services and the headmaster of the boy's school keep his 'tender loving care' from earning the attention of the bobbies. Whoever couldn't be bribed he quickly paid someone else to get rid of them, be it either having them transferred to a different district or beaten into silence. And as for the neighbors, well, his lovely wife Petunia had them wrapped around her boney little fingers, didn't she? They'd believe whatever such 'normal, upstanding folk' told them.

This was, of course, until that blasted Hagrid fellow burst their door down with orders from the Headmaster of that freak school to take the boy for his supplies. How dare they try to undermine all their hard work in ridding the freak of that magic rubish. Vernon and his family had been doing a rather spectacular job nipping that in the bud, he self congratulated himself, only for all that hard work to be undermined by the other freaks.

No, Vernon Dursley wouldn't stand for that. There was no way in HELL that he would allow the freak to be trained so that he could do willy-nilly to him and his family the moment he returned the following summer. Therefore, Vernon had come up with a plan. A rather genius plan. He thought smugly as he got everything prepared.

You see one of Vernon's rather shady friends had learned of his 'troublesome' nephew and let slip of a certain poison that took hours, even days to take effect, leaving the victim clueless and no link back to the one who administered it. Vernon was absolutely gleeful of this piece of information and immediately had asked for some of the 'product' as soon as possible. With the poison in his possession, Vernon's tiny brain was able to concoct a rather devious scheme to finally be rid of the curse on his family, once and for all.

Bringing Petunia in on the scheme, Vernon was in a figuratively good mood as he got up the morning of September 1st. Having a 'healthy' serving of eggs, sausages, bacon, beans, toast, and a full plate of waffles, Vernon made his way up the stairs towards his nephew's bedroom with an evil grin on his face. He quickly wiped the smirk off his face as he downed his usual snarl, lifting up his meaty fist to loudly pound on the door.

"BOY! GET YOUR LAZY BUM OUT OF BED AND GET READY, WE'RE LEAVING FOR THE STATION!" he bellowed before he turned and left, and it was certain he would have had a bounce in his step if he wasn't so fat it made it physically impossible. Soon he would be rid of his freakish nephew, and he and his family would be long gone.

A few minutes later the boy came down trying to drag his luggage while balancing the cage of that ruddy owl. Vernon had to roll his eyes as he was getting impatient, so he lugged over and picked up the trunk for him(he would have made his nephew carry the heavier trunk instead if not for the fact that the owl would try to bite him any chance it got).

After they had packed everything up for the drive, Vernon pushed his nephew into the car and drove off, making the hour-long trip to London. It was about halfway throughout the journey that Vernon set his plan into motion.

Stopping at a highway fast food restaurant, Vernon ordered himself a little 'snack', which consisted of a fat quarter-pounder with a larger of fries and a 32-ounce soda. With that, he also ordered a plain dollar burger and a small cup of free water, a sort of last meal for the 'freak'.

Parking his car Vernon looking into the rearview mirror to look at the boy, who currently looked to be a bit zoned out. 'Good.' He thought, as he quickly opened the lid to the small cup of water while taking a small vial and poured its contents that dissolved into the liquid. Pocketing the vial, he resealed the lid and looked back up at his nephew.

"BOY!" he shouted, startling the runt as he thrust the bag and cup at him with a grunt, turning back into his seat. Secretly though, Vernon was watching him making sure he did what he wanted him to.

-/ↀ\\-

Harry was perplexed for a moment as he looked down at the food and drink provided for him. He had been zoned throughout most of that morning, trying to get a grasp of the world around him. After he had opened the watch the night before, Harry had fallen unconscious and stayed that way until he was awoken by his uncle's furious pounding at his door. Groggily he had gotten up and stumbled around to get his clothes on, rubbing his head against a monstrous headache.

Getting himself as presentable as possible and gathering his things, Harry almost left to head downstairs before his foot kicked the open fob watch laying on the floor. Considering it for a moment, Harry leaned down to pick it up, pocketing it as he opened the door to his room and went downstairs.

He had been surprised when his uncle grabbed his trunk for him, although he guessed that he did this out of impatience rather than charity. However, none of that was of any importance to him. Ever since he had sat down inside the car his brain was running a thousand miles an hour, and his mind felt like it was on fire. He couldn't help this unreasonable and quite frankly annoying feeling that he was supposed to remember something, so he spent the car ride mostly zoned out trying to process his thoughts.

That exercise was quickly cut short as his uncle suddenly bellowed at him and thrust something into his hands. He had then looked down at the meal offered to him, and he couldn't help his mouth from watering. Now normally Harry would have been a tad suspicious that his uncle had willingly spent any sort of money on him, but at the moment his natural instincts were a distant memory. He was so hungry. The Dursleys had made sure not to feed him for days, and usually, when he had received this sort of punishment before, he was only allowed to eat plain toast afterward. It was easy to imagine that the plain burger now in his hands was like a feast to him.

It didn't take him long to completely devour the sandwich given to him, nor was it a slug's race for him to suck up all of the water in the cup to wash it all down. Feeling somewhat better having some food in his stomach, Harry laid back and tried to relax, quietly sifting through all the new thoughts and information that his brain was trying to make sense out of.

About a half-hour later they reached the heart of London where King's Cross was located, where his uncle unceremoniously dropped him off with the rest of his stuff, then drove off as fast as he could. Harry quirked an eyebrow at this, but shrugged his shoulders as it was to be expected, so he went about to get his luggage on a trolley.

It didn't take long for Harry to reach the platform between Nine and Ten, but it was here that he came into a bit of a conundrum. You see the number on his train said that the Hogwarts Express would be awaiting him on the Platform Nine and Three Quarters. That was all well and good, except that there wasn't a Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Sure, there was a Platform Nine and Ten, but no silly inbetween number.

Frowning for a moment, Harry stood there trying to figure out what he was supposed to do, when a thought suddenly made its way to the forefront of his mind. Quickly reaching into his pants pocket he whipped out his grandfather's sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the column between Nine and Ten, a low buzzing sound coming from its tip. As soon as it was done with its readings, Harry pulled it back to his face to study them for a moment, a triumphant smile dawning on his face. Psychic Barrier, brilliant! Harry gave a whoop of joy before he pocketed the sonic and directed the trolley toward the wall and ran straight through with his eyes closed, appearing on the other side.

Harry's eyes sparkled as they opened to look upon the long red and black steam engine resting on the platform tracks. He was still early, though he noted that there were still quite a few people on the platform already. As he began to move forward to find a place on the train, he paused for a moment before turning back to the column, a look of confusion marked on his face.

"How did I know how…?" he muttered to himself, pulling out the sonic in his pocket to examine it. The readings he had taken from the barrier wFere in a language for all intents and purposes he should not be able to read. Yet somehow, he's brain was able to pick up the funny little symbols the device relayed into his mind, and he perfectly understood them.

Rubbing his head as another massive headache took hold, Harry made his way toward the train, choosing to ignore the others on the platform in favor of finding himself a compartment. Eventually finding one he liked in the middle of the train, Harry slid the compartment door open and dragged his trunk inside, unable to stop himself from stumbling a little as his legs suddenly felt quite heavy.

"Oof, need to sit down a bit," Harry huffed to himself, plopping down into the seat as he caught his breath. He was surprised how winded he felt, although he reasoned that he had had to carry up all his luggage onto the train all by himself. A loud screeching came from his left as he looked down at his companion, the bird eyeing him expectantly. 'A Beautiful Bubo scandiacus of the Order Strigiformes. Snowy Owl. Hedwig.'

Harry shook his head, pondering over yet another piece of knowledge that he now seemed to possess. If he didn't know any better he'd think it was magic, but no, a voice in the back of his head told him it was something else. Something so ridiculous yet seemed to make all the sense in the world. Genetic memory. He had the pre-existing knowledge of his ancestors etched into his very DNA. And what a reserve of knowledge it was!

But how? How could he know all of these things just because of his genetics? How could he know how to operate a strange device he had no experience using? How could a human, living in a moment in history when mankind had yet to reach beyond their own moon, know how to read a multi-million-year-old alien language?

Well, the answer was quite obvious, now wasn't it? Because Harry Potter was no longer human. Not anymore. No, Harry Potter was something more, something ancient. Something old and wonderful and dangerous.

Gallifreyan.

Harry was torn from his thoughts as the door to the compartment slid open, allowing a head of red hair to poke in. Only now did Harry notice that the train was moving, and they had long departed London. The boy attached to the fiery mess of hair looked around the compartment for a moment, before his blue eyes landed on Harry.

"Anyone sitting there?" The boy asked, pointing to the seat opposite of Harry, "Everywhere else is full."

Now that was something Harry seriously doubted, having scoured the train himself and found plenty of compartments himself. However, the boy seemed a bit nervous in his presence, so he guessed that the boy recognized him as the famous 'Boy-Who-Lived'. Harry couldn't help but smile at that as he shook his head, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow he only now realized he was perspiring.

Though he despised the fame he supposedly had, perhaps he could use it so that he could make friends easier than he had in the mundane world. It certainly made things convenient when the other kids came to him and not the other way around. If anything else, it would allow him to observe the people who came to him to see if they were friend material or not.

The boy smiled as he sat down. After a few moments, he glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out the window, pretending he hadn't been staring. Harry hid a smirk as he saw this, taking note of a black mark on his nose.

"Ron Weasley," the boy said suddenly, sticking out his hand to shake.

Harry took it into his own and shook as he looked him in the eye, "Harry Potter."

"Are you really?" Ron blurted out. Harry nodded slowly, watching as the redhead worked his gobsmacked mouth, "And have you really got, you know…" He pointed at Harry's forehead.

Harry frowned a bit at this, but decided to humor him anyway as he pulled back his bangs to show off the lightning bolt scar. Ron stared in awe.

"So, that's where You-Know-Who-"

"Yes," Harry interrupted, a little irritably as he smoothed out his hair over the mark, "but I don't remember it."

"Nothing?" Ron asked, giving him an inquisitive look.

"I remember a lot of green light, and after a woman's screaming. Beyond that nothing else." Harry muttered out, leaning back into his seat with his arms folded while stroking his chin.

"Oh," Ron breathed, suddenly looking like he'd stuck his foot in his mouth, "I'm sorry, it's just… mum's told me all about you. She was actually hoping to see you on the platform, seeing how you got rid of her brothers' killer."

Harry looked back at him and smiled. 'He lacks any sort of tack, but at least he knows when he's been insensitive.' He thought, giving a shrug to his shoulders, wiping his forehead again, "I don't think I did anything, really. Honestly, I think it was my mother who offed that Voldemort tosser. Your mum knows me, eh? Your whole family wizards?"

"Er, yes, I think so," Ron scrunched up his nose in thought. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him." Ron's ears suddenly went pink, staring at Harry in shock, "Hey, you said You-Know-Who's name!"

"Yeah, so?"

Ron was still in shock, though he did look a little embarrassed now, "Well, I'd have thought that, well you of all people…"

"Would be afraid to say his name?" Harry guessed, confirming his suspicion when Ron nodded his head, "Why should I be afraid to say his name? Voldemort, silly name really. Obviously made up. I bet his real name is something terribly common, like Bob. Could you imagine? The most feared wizard of the age, the Dark Lord Bob?"

"Er…" Ron squawked, not really knowing what to say to that. Fortunately for him, their conversation was interrupted by a great clattering outside in the corridor as a smiling, dimpled woman slid their door back, "Anything off the trolley, dears?"

Ron's ears went pink again as he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry stood up to go out into the corridor, but stopped himself when the thought of food made his stomach flip. He suddenly turned a greenish shade before shaking his head, sitting back down in his seat while rubbing his belly.

"Hey mate, you alright?" Ron asked him, giving Harry a funny look as the boy tried to get his vision to stop spinning.

"No, no. It's fine, just got a stomach ache is all." Harry reassured him with a weary smile, though by the look on Ron's face he didn't look convinced.

"Right… well, I've got to go see my brothers about something, see you at the castle, mate?" Ron said as he stood up and stepped out of the compartment. Harry let out a sigh, wishing Ron would have stayed so they could talk some more. That was probably the longest conversation he'd held with someone his own age in his life.

Harry decided to pull out a book on arithmancy to pass the time, holding onto his stomach that hadn't stopped upsetting him. He stayed that way for a while, and it was quiet for a time while the fields and lanes flick past his compartment window.

A few hours passed before there was a knock on the door of the compartment as two more first-years popped their heads in. The first was a girl with long bushy hair and rather large front teeth, who it appeared had the foresight to put on her Hogwarts robes ahead of time. The second was a nervous, round-faced boy that looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"Have you seen a toad at all? Neville here's lost one." The girl said as she pointed to the boy, who let out a loud sniff.

When Harry shook his head, the poor boy let out a wail, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," The girl tried to reassure him, looking a little awkward while comforting Neville. Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for him, so he decided to help as he stood up.

"What kind of toad is he, Neville?" Harry asked, standing in front of the boy and keeping still as to not frighten him too badly.

"Trevor's just a common toad. My great uncle Algie gave him to me when I got my Hogwarts letter." Neville let out another choked sob, "Oh, if I don't find him, my gran's gonna be so cross with me!"

"Common toad, eh? Bufo Bufo. Hmm," Harry thought for a moment before pulling out his sonic, tinkering with it for a moment before jabbing it down the corridor with the end buzzing away.

The two first-years stared at him curiously as he shut it off and brought it up to his face, watching as he seemed to be reading something before he broke out into a smile, "Look into the bathroom toward the end of the car, if you move quickly you should find him there."

Neville didn't need to be told twice as he hurriedly made his way down the car, while the girl stayed behind looking at Harry as though he had two heads.

"What?" he asked, giving her a questioning look.

"How could you possibly know where Trevor is?" she asked in a bossy tone, crossing her arms as she looked down at him, being the tallest of the two.

"Magic," he smirked, saying nothing more to her irritation.

"That wasn't magic, and that's not an answer. You didn't even know that there was a toad a moment ago."

Before he could answer, there was a loud cry of "Trevor!" coming from the head of the car, before Neville popped back out of the bathroom and headed back toward them with a fat brown toad held tightly in his hands.

"Oh thank you! I don't know what I would have done if I couldn't find him! Now my gran won't skin me alive!" he sobbed happily as he looked at Harry in thanks, before quickly scurried down the corridor.

"What was that?" The girl suddenly blurted out, following Harry as he sat back down in his compartment.

"What was what?" Harry asked innocently, while he giggled mischievously inside.

"That thing you used to find Neville's toad!" she half-shouted, raising her hands over her head.

"No idea, isn't it great?" he asked her, smiling as the girl scrunched up her nose as he teased her.

"You're a funny little boy, aren't you?" she pouted, crossing her arms as she sat down opposite of him.

Harry arched an eyebrow, "I wouldn't know. Never had any friends to give me a point of reference." he answered honestly, looking away guiltily at the admission.

The girl seemed to soften a bit at his words, giving him a sympathetic look, "I never really had any friends either. The other school children never seemed to understand me, and they only came around if they wanted me to do their homework."

Her eyes glanced down at the book he had been reading before she and Neville interrupted him and was now closed, a broad smile gracing her lips, "My name is Hermione Granger, by the way."

"Harry Potter," Harry replied, groaning as her eyes bugged out.

"Are you really?" Hermione asked. "I know all about you, of course. I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Am I?" Harry asked, though he was already aware of his mention in the Dark Arts history book.

"Goodness, didn't you know?" Hermione exclaimed, "I'd have found out everything I could if it were me."

"As a matter of fact I did know, but it's nice that I can be scrutinized like an amoeba in a petri dish just by reading the pages in a silly old book," Harry said sarcastically, looking out of the corner of his eye to gauge her reaction.

Hermione could only blush as she realized how she must have sounded, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm being insensitive. It's just exciting to meet someone you've read about in a book!" She tried to explain, her face heating up like a tomato in embarrassment. She stopped when she caught him giggling.

"It's alright, you didn't mean anything by it," Harry stared at her for a moment, pondering something before he spoke again, "You're a bookworm, too?"

Hermione, for her part, almost snapped at him for the supposed insult until her brain registered the added word at the end of his sentence. Nodding her head slowly, she eyed him suspiciously, "Too?"

"Well sure! Nothing like sitting back and reading a good book to pass the time on a summer afternoon. Or a winter one. As a matter of fact, any seasonal afternoon would do just fine." He took a moment to look at her and smiled at the brightening expression on her face.

The two continued to discuss different books they had read as well as all the material they had covered over the following school year. Hours passed by as they were both pleased to find that they had read all the books for the first year, which led to a long debate on the principles of adding rarer ingredients as replacements for the cheaper ones found in the textbook and how that might alter the effectiveness of their purposes.

Throughout the debate, Hermione couldn't help but relax as she had found someone her age she felt could relate to her. She had been so lonely back at her old school in Hampstead, None of the other children understood her nor did they like her. Now that was partly her fault, though not intentional. She had always been learned, and when she went to school she had expected the other children to be like her. Unfortunately for her they were not, mistaking her nervous insistence that they take their studies seriously as arrogance and being bossy. Being shunned by her peers had left her sad and isolated, and she had retreated into her books for comfort.

But here, she had found not only a kindred spirit when it came to intellect, but the boy sitting next to her was Harry Potter. She couldn't believe her luck! She had been so nervous to enter the wizarding world, worried that being a muggle-born would make it near impossible to fit in. But having met their savior and for him to have the same interests as she did was just the blessing she had been waiting for.

Suddenly a voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

"Oh! You should probably get dressed. I'll wait for you on the platform!" Hermione said hurriedly, opening the door to the compartment and rushing out into the corridor. Harry chuckled as he watched her go, standing up as he pulled his school robes from his trunk. As he buttoned down his white undershirt he couldn't help but feel elated at making his first-ever friend. 'HA! Take THAT, Dudley!' He thought with a hoop, pulling up his pants before tucking in the shirt bottoms. Now perhaps, after this infernal headache subsided he could think clearly enough to really impress her on his intelligence.

But as Harry started to put on his grey sweater, he paused as he undid his tie a little. 'It's getting rather hot in here all of a sudden.' He pondered, before gasping in pain as he lurched forward, grasping his stomach.

"Oww…" He moaned in utter confusion, slowly straightening up as he rubbed his belly. Where had that pain come from? He thought, ridding his forehead of more sweat. He was really getting warm, he thought, before his attention was drawn to his hand. For a moment, he could have sworn it glowed.

Shaking his head, he forgoed the sweater and covered himself with his outer robes instead, sliding the door open before stumbling out into the corridor.

-/ↀ\\-

Author's Note: Vernon you've been a baaaad boy. Do you have any idea what you've awoken? So what did you think? Good so far? Wondering where this is going? Follow to find out and I'll be sure to see what you think in the comments.


	3. Rebirth of a Timelord

The Reapers of Shan Shen

Chapter 3-Rebirth of a Timelord

Outside the corridor, people pushed their way toward the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Harry took in the cold night air, finding a small relief as it cooled his growing temperature.

"Harry! There you are!" Hermione exclaimed as she ran over to him, before taking in his sunken features, "Harry, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine," Harry brushed her off, not wanting to worry her over nothing.

"Are you sure? You look a little under the weather."

"I'm fine, really," Harry reassured, pausing as he heard the bellowing voice of Hagrid calling out to all the first-years, "We should head over with the rest of our group."

The two made their way over to the hulking man while he was waving a lamp in the air, standing in the back as he looked over all of the students, "C'mon, follow me. Any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, waddled past them with a content smile on his face, holding his toad close to his chest.

"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "Jus' round this bend here." Soon after, there was a loud "Oooooh!" from the group of students.

The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Hermione were followed into their boat by Neville and a dark-skinned boy who had his mouth agape in awe.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Righ' then, FORWARD!"

The fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

But for Harry, the subtle rocking of the boat on the water made him green around the gills. Hermione noticed this too, a frown of concern forming her face as her new friend started to look increasingly sick.

Harry, for his part, was battling a war between concern for how he was feeling and trying to figure out what that strange glow was. He knew it held some significance, something in the back of his mind told him that, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

The moment their feet hit the ground, Harry wobbled a bit before, his cheeks puffed up, scrambling over to the water's edge before emptying the contents of his stomach into the lake. Hermione quickly rushed over to him, rubbing his back as he spat out the foul taste in his mouth.

"Harry, are you sure you're okay?" She asked, placing her hand over his forehead before letting out a gasp, "Harry, you're burning up!"

"Oy, you there! You alrigh'?" Hagrid called as he came over to them, having noticed their situation as he was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

"Mister Hagrid, sir? Harry's not feeling too well, I think he's starting to run a fever." Hermione told Hagrid against Harry's protests.

"'Arry! Yer not feelin' sick, are ya?" he asked, looking down at the boy in concern.

"I-I'll be alright," Harry mumbled out, wiping his mouth off his sleeve as he took a few wobbly steps forward, Hermione close to his side to make sure he didn't fall.

"All the same, you should get to the Hospital Wing as soon as the sortin' finish'. Yer new frien' can take ya there," he informed the two, before turning to lead the group up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp. They walked up a flight of stone steps and soon crowded around the huge, oak front door of the castle.

"Everyone here?" He asked, before he raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door. The door swung open at once as a tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood at the entrance staring at them. Her face was stern as she peered at every one of them, before turning to Hagrid as he addressed her.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling so high you couldn't make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the droning of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He didn't know why, but after he had thrown up he only felt sicker than before.

Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously. She began to explain the sorting and how each of them would be placed in a different house that would grow to become like a second family, but all Harry could think about was the strange glow.

What did he know so far? So far, he now possessed the genetic memory of his grandfather. He had figured out that it was him shifting through the broken fragments that had made the man who he was. He also had a new understanding of alien technologies and languages that he previously didn't have, and he now knew that he was the grandson of an alien. That was a bit of a shock, but he also felt that it was the key to his dilemma.

Harry felt himself being dragged into the Great Hall by Hermione, who was growing increasingly worried by the minute. Harry had gone from a healthy shade to a ghostly pale, while his hair was matted with sweat. His legs felt heavy and he found it difficult to move them as they made their way with the rest of their year to the front of the hall, where a long table was set for the professors to sit.

"Harry, I think we should go to the hospital wing now," Hermione whispered harshly, gripping his arm tightly as she licked her lips.

"Hermione, I promise I'll go, but I don't want to make a scene right now in the middle of the whole school," Harry whispered back, clutching her hand as she suddenly stiffened, blushing a little, "Please Hermione?"

"Alright," she sighed, moving forward as she heard her name being called. Harry followed her with his eyes, watching as she stepped up to a stool while McGonagall stood on the side with a hat which she lowered on the girl's head as she sat down. Hermione seemed to argue with the hate for a moment before a mouth opened up at the seams, giving a loud shout of "RAVENCLAW!"

Hermione jumped off the stool, giving Harry a concerned look before she walked off to the table of blue. Over the sound of clapping, Harry continued to run deductions at incredible speeds, trying to figure out what was going on. He felt like utter crap, that was a clue, and the glow was another. There were many faces associated with that glow, shifting from one form to the next.

"Potter, Harry!"

Harry snapped to attention as his name was called, vaguely registering whispered voices breaking out like a hissing fire across the hall.

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

"Don't look too good, don't he?"

Regeneration! That was the word he was looking for! Made all the sense in the world now. The process of self-preservation a time lord went through to cheat his or her way out of dying! 'A wonderful little time lord trick.' Harry thought in a daze, mindlessly stumbling forward towards the stool, unaware of everyone's eyes on him. But, if the glow was the first sign of the energy output of regeneration, and the light had appeared, then that meant that he was… was…

"Oh no..." Harry said aloud to no one as the room started to rabidly spin, his body falling forward going limp.

-/ↀ\\-

The moment Severus Snape cast his eyes on the boy, he knew something was wrong. The Potter boy was s deathly shade of pale and drenched in sweat, swaying where he stood in a daze. When he began to walk toward the stool, he leaned forward behind the table to observe the long chain of emotions going across the boy's face. There was contemplation, agitation, understanding, and elation, then horrific realization as the boy wobbled where he stood before crashing onto the stone floor.

Severus was there immediately, ignoring the startled yells and cries of the student body as he leaped over the table and rushed over to the boy, whipping out his wand to perform a diagnostic charm. Soon he was joined by Albus, Poppy, and Minerva, who stood over him trying to see what had happened.

"Severus, what happened? Is the boy alright?" Minerva piped up, staring down in shock as the boy's eyes rolled around his head, unable to focus on anything.

Severus frowned, the first results of his spell coming back giving him startling news, "He's been poisoned."

"Poisoned?! Not James' boy!" Minerva half shouted, half screeched as the Great Hall erupted into shouts of shock and terror, the students talking amongst themselves about what had happened.

Albus Dumbledore looked grim, peering down at the small child being cradled in Poppy's arms, "Severus, can you rid him of the poison?" he asked, desperately hoping the boy would be alright.

Severus Snape read over the next set of readings, his heart jumping into his throat as he studied the information. Sighing heavily, he looked up at the Headmaster shaking his head.

"The poison has been in his system for hours, probably sometime before he got onto the train," the greasy-haired man, stared down at the child, unbuttoning his shirt to look at the thin body underneath, "He shows signs of severe starvation. If he was healthier I might be able to reverse the damage, but he's so frail..."

There was a wail behind them as they looked up, spotting the Granger girl looking down at Harry with tears staining her eyes. They all held their head low, having noticed the two students seeming to bond before their names were called. Severus especially felt as though he was going to break. James'... no, Lily's son was fading in front of him and he couldn't do anything to stop it. He had failed his promise before he could have a chance to keep it.

"Pois-oned?" Harry gasped out, his bright green eyes staring at them all questioningly, working the word around in his head.

"Harry, can you hear me?" Albus spoke softly, giving a strained smile to the boy as his eyes focused on him.

"Harry, my name is Professor Dumbledore, I'm the Headmaster of this school. Now, you're going to be just fine, do you understand me?" the aged wizard lied, hoping to ease the boy's suffering by keeping him from panicking. He was startled when the boy began to laugh.

"Oh Vernon, you bugger, you finally did it, didn't you?" Harry looked up into the headmaster's eyes, and couldn't help the smile that spread over his face, "It's alright, Professor, it's quite alright. I'm dying."

That pronunciation coming from the very lips of the 'Boy-Who-Lived' had set the entire hall into a riot, shouts of horror rising up to the ceiling as the professors tried to regain control of the situation. The loudest of these cries, however, came from Hermione, who rushed over and fell on her knees beside Harry, heavy tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Harry no, you can't die, you just can't! Please?" she sobbed as the boy looked up at her curiously, trying to contemplate her current state.

"Why are you crying, Mione?" he slurred, tilting his head in confusion forcing a choked laugh from the bushy-haired girl.

"I'm crying because you're my friend, Harry." She told him, wiping her eyes against her sleeve as she loudly sniffed.

"Friend?"

"Yes, of course!" She nodded whole-heartedly. Harry smiled.

"Oh Mione, please don't cry. I'm dying." A huge grin suddenly grew on his face, looking up at her as if she were the most important thing in the universe, "But I can fix that."

Hermione, as well as the rest of the professors, looked at the boy wondering what he could have meant by that, only for their eyes to bug out as his hands started to glow a golden light. Harry groaned in discomfort for a moment, then raised his head to look his friend straight in the eye.

"Back away."

"W-What?" she said incredulously, her mind trying to figure out what was going on, before she yelped as he shot straight up.

"Back away! Go!" He shouted and pushed her away with a strength he shouldn't possess, rolling over on his side as everyone stepped away from him, giving him space. Struggling, Harry used the edge of the staff table to right himself as he stood up, backing as far away from everyone else as possible.

"I'm too young for this." He moaned as he used all his strength to keep himself up, looking down at himself in dismay, "My grandfather used to do this, of course, but he was… old his first time. I should have lived a little longer before I attempted to do this."

Harry's head shot up, looking at everyone in the hall as he rambled on, smiling softly as he saw all the sad faces staring back at him, "Oh, I wish I had more time. Hah, look at me, complaining about time, who has all the time in the world now. I just... wish I could have had more time."

Harry's gaze then landed on Hermione, and he stood up a little straighter as if to help her to be a little less sad, "I wasn't fooling on the train, you know? You, Hermione Granger, are the first friend I've ever had. And you know what? I'm happy with that. My best friend." He smiled at her, showing her how proud he was to call her that.

"That all ends now, the start of a new beginning," He sighed as he looked down at his hands, which had begun to grow even brighter, "No one ever liked me back home, no matter how much I wish they would. I hope," He paused, swallowing a mouthful of saliva, "I hope they might come to like me now."

Harry looked up at them one more time, a tear rolling down his cheek before his nose scrunched up in thought, "Grandfather used to say something about this, I'm trying to remember. Oh yes!" he gave them all a sad smile, "Wearing a bit thin." He breathed in and out, letting the finality of the situation calm him. It was in that moment, that Harry Potter died.

And then he screamed.

Harry's head flew back as his arms shot outward, a painful wail escaping his throat as tendrils of golden light blasted out of his hands and face, blinding everyone as they quickly looked away. There were further cries of fear as the energy rolling off the boy's body rippled throughout the hall, blowing out all the windows as glass rained down.

Through all of this, Harry screamed and screamed and screamed some more, until he tore up his throat resorting to whimper painfully as the regenerative energy surged through his body, destroying and rearranging everything that made him him at the molecular level. His face morphed and changed, his hair curled and lengthed, and his body shot up a few inches as he gave a final shout before the light died away.

As everyone in the hall came around as they realized the light was gone, they all began to turn to see what had happened to the savior of the Wizarding World. What they got was quite a shock as standing there, completely dressed in Harry's clothes, was a boy that was most definitely not him.

The boy was several inches taller and a few pounds heavier than what he had been before, with naturally dark skin that looked far healthier than his previous pale appearance. The structure of his face had also changed. If the students were confused, the professors were in absolute shock. Even Severus couldn't hold back his gasp as he gazed at the young man. If Harry Potter was the spitting image of his father with his mother's eyes, then this boy was the exact opposite.

That was probably the best way to describe the boy that now stood before them. For those who know her, the boy was what any of them could imagine what a male version of Lily Potter would look like, his jawline rounder and his cheekbones more pronounced than James' had ever been. And his hair. Gone was the jet black raven's nest that had cursed so many Potter men, now replaced with long auburn curls that fell to the sides of his face, the vibrant locks running over his shoulders. Even his glasses looked wrong on his face, though that could be a result of them being lopsided and looking ready to fall off.

The boy at that moment took the time to reach up and pull them off, blinking as he placed them into his pocket while working to get his breathing under control. He looked momentarily confused before a wide smile formed across his lips. He spared a quick glance at the people around him, before his chestnut eyes staring at his hands in wonder as he flipped them around.

"Well, that was-oh!" He paused mid-sentence as he rubbed his throat, working out the muscles under his touch, "New voice. That's weird. Gonna take a lot getting used to. Feel like a migrating bird," He said to himself, much to the confusion of everyone around him.

"Right then! Let's see what we got, shall we?" The boy said in distinct northern English, which was indeed nothing like the formal southern he had spoken before. Everyone just stared gobsmacked and silent as he grabbed his leg, bouncing in place.

"Two legs, two arms, two hands. All there, good. Weren't you taller?" The boy eyed Hermione sizing her up, making the girl step back and blush, "No, no, you just got shorter, you should probably drink some calcium for that." He criticized before resuming his patdown.

"Eyes, mouth, ears," he patted his face for a moment before grabbing his nose, sticking out his tongue as he got all cross-eyed, "NOOZ!"

The boy smacked his cheeks a few times before he ran a hand through his hair and paused, taking a big clump of it and rolled it around, seemingly lost in its texture, "Oh, that is fantastic! So smooth and airy! Like one big pillow, ain't it? Oh, that's definitely an improvement!" Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Ron, and with a resounding "Oh!" he quickly closed the distance between the two of them getting right up in Ron's face, ignoring the boy's discomfort as he invaded his personal space.

"Ronald, Brilliant! Just the bloke I need! One question, and this is an important one, matter of life or death, so answer honestly!" he said as he looked him straight in the eye with all the seriousness in the world, his gaze intense as he leaned forward in a low voice, "Am I... ginger?"

"Err, yes?" He answered nervously, hoping the weird kid would get as far away from him as possible. Sadly, he only got a big, bright smile for his troubles.

"Am I really? Ohh, grandfather always wanted to be ginger, never could get it though. Good to know not three minutes into my first regeneration and I've already made pappy proud."

The boy clapped his hands together, spinning in place to look around, "Right! So… no time to doddle! I'm in a hurry. No good a Time Lord without his time machine, and a time machine without a Time Lord is just silly." The boy reached into his robe pockets and wiped out his sonic, pointing it toward an empty spot in the crowd toward the center of the hall.

The students who were in the direct sight of his little tool backed away nervously, unsure what it was or what was going to happen. That was soon answered as they squeaked in surprise as a great wind seemed to pop up from nowhere, a wheezing vwarp carried on the wind. Soon an outline of a big blue box started to come into existence, phasing in and out with flashes of bright light at the top. With a final wheeze, the box came with an audible thump, sporting the words 'POLICE BOX PUBLIC PHONE' across its sides.

The boy's smile was full and bright upon seeing the blue monolith standing in front of everyone. 'Now I just need my key.' He thought, briskly digging into his pockets. It was as he was doing this that Hermione took a better look at him, namely at his forehead where a pronounced lightning bolt scar was cut into the skin.

"H-Harry?" She spoke up nervously, bravely taking a step forward as the boy paused in what he was doing to stare at her. "Harry, is that you?"

The boy's eyes seemed to flash about in a sort of internal debate, and Hermione briefly likened him to an animal trying to figure out if she could be trusted or not. Deciding to trust in her instincts, Hermione took a few more steps until she was right in front of him, letting the boy she hoped was her friend take as long as he needed to work her out.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for her efforts to be rewarded as he leaned his head forward into hers, having to pull her head back as he stared intently into her eyes. Feeling uncomfortable, she was just about to turn away when a huge grin grew on his face, grabbing her hand and bringing it up to his chest as he looked at her.

"Hermione Granger. Oh, look at you, coming up being so brave while everyone else quakes in their boots trying to figure this out. I knew you were special since before we got off the train."

"Harry!" Hermione couldn't help but exclaim, staring longingly at her hand inside his own before looking him up and down, "How? What...?"

"Oh, isn't it wonderful? Whole new face. Whole new regeneration! Never done this before, it's quite exciting!" Harry then frowned, his eyes looking confused before they widened in alarm, "Oh dear."

Hermione immediately held him, her voice laced with worry, "What's wrong?"

"Never done this before, haven't got it down in pat. I believe the shock of having poison burned throughout my system is finally setting in. I presume I'll faint in the next five minutes," His knees at that moment decided to buckle, making his back arch upward as he yelped, "Scratch that! Make that five seconds!"

Harry suddenly collapsed onto the floor like a rag doll, the only thing keeping his head from slapping into the ground being that Hermione held his head as he went down. The professors at that moment decided to come out of their stupor, running over to the fallen lad to check on him.

As the professors were busy attending to the unconscious boy, whispers broke out amongst the students, hurriedly discussing everything they had witnessed. There wasn't a quiet soul among them, save for a blonde first-year boy with a green and silver tie, staring at the fellow two students on the floor with a calculating look.

-/ↀ\\-

Author's Note: That boy need some milk! And some smelling salts. What will happen next? Who will be dragged into this strange situation? Find out next time!


	4. The Potter

The Reapers of Shan Shen

Chapter 4-The Potter

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, sighed heavily as he traversed the halls of the school just before dawn with a thin package under his arm. He had so many things going through his mind at the moment he was struggling to catch up, feeling the hundred and ten years of his life resting on his shoulders.

So many revelations had transpired earlier that night that Albus had to fill an entire shelf of his pensive cabinet with memories, and every one of them was labeled with the same name. Harry Potter. Not even at Hogwarts for a day and he had already caused mass pandemonium. His thoughts were still swimming as he recalled the discussion over the boy in the Hospital Wing.

The doors of the Hospital Wing burst open as the professors rushed inside, followed closely behind by Hermione Granger who stayed by the unconscious boy's levitating form. Quickly he was laid down on one of the ward's beds while Madam Pomfrey pulled out her wand and a small white bag from her pocket, taping it once causing it to expand into a full-on carrier case.

"Lay him on the bed, quickly!" Pomfrey ordered, rushing into her office to retrieve her medical bag while Albus and Severus lowered the boy upon the sheets. Hermione was immediately at his side, her eyes glassy and nervous as she held the boy's hand.

"Do you think the lad will awaken soon?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes scanning the child being examined by the school nurse, "I want to know how this boy switched places with young Mr. Potter."

"I don't know, Albus, now let me work!" Madam Pomfrey huffed, taking out a parchment and a small knife which she used to slice open the boy's hand to draw a few drops of blood onto the paper. As his blood flowed, they were momentarily startled when the color of the liquid had a darker, almost orange tint to it. They were further perplexed when the wound closed itself before the nurse maiden could use a healing spell.

Shaking her head at the strange occurrence, the mediwitch cast a spell on the parchment to get the results she needed to make a proper diagnosis. The parchment glowed white for a moment, then hummed as the small pool of blood on its surface shifted, forming words that then pressed into the paper and solidified. When it was done, Madam Pomfrey brought the parchment to her face, her eyes scanning the words written on it with an increasingly startled look upon her face.

"That… that isn't possible..."

"Have you found out his name? Perhaps he can tell us where Mr. Potter is." Dumbledore asked, leaning forward with his wand as he checked on the boy's health himself.

"Albus, this IS Mr. Potter!"

"What?!" Was the collective gasp of the professors, their heads snapping toward the unconscious child resting on the bed. Madam Pomfrey quickly shoved the parchment into Dumbledore's hands, who's eyebrows shot upward in surprise as he scanned the readings.

Medical Scan Documented By: Madam Poppy Pomfrey, Mediwitch, Head Nurse for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Patient: Harry James Potter

Parents: James Fleamont Potter, Lily Jane Potter nee Evans

Race: 10% Human; 90% Unknown

Medical Status: Unknown

Magical Core: in Flux

Extremities: Two Hearts, Secondary Respiratory Bypass System, Body Temperature 22 °C lower than average, 20% Higher Copper to Blood Cell Ratio, Unknown Mineral in Bloodstream, Unknown Energy Core

"Extraordinary…" Albus exclaimed while his eyes twinkled like mad, passing the parchment to Snape and McGonagall, who passed it around to the other professors.

Discussions between the professors continued for several hours later, even when Madam Pomfrey kicked them all out of the Medical Wing so her patient could rest. The professors didn't give any complaint, too wrapped up trying to figure out what was happening. The only one who gave any protest was Miss Granger, who had to be coaxed out with the assurance that she could return the next day.

One of the main concerns on everyone's minds was how Mister Potter was poisoned, to begin with. They probably spent a good hour trying to deduce who would have been able to get to the boy to administer the harmful substance in such a short time period between him waking up this morning to arriving at the castle. It was Quirinus who suggested his uncle, pointing out the boy mentioning Vernon, referring to him as 'the Bugger' in that incessant stutter of his.

Dumbledore couldn't help the shudder that ran down his spine at the ramifications if that were true. He knew that the boy had an impossible destiny laid out in front of him, he who had within him alone the power to defeat Voldemort for good. A war was coming one way or another, and Dumbledore knew deep down that Harry, despite whatever had happened the night before to save him, was unlikely to survive. Sadly, there was nothing he could do for the boy, so he had hoped to give him as much of a normal childhood as possible. But if his own uncle was willing to kill his nephew, how normal had that childhood been?

Albus had lived a long life and made many mistakes along the way, and to his regret, it seemed that placing Harry with his Aunt in hopes of protecting him would prove to be his most recent blunder. The fact that the boy had survived his would be murder and the means by which he did it could only make the aged wizard marvel. He pondered if this was the power the Dark Lord knew not. Well, if nothing else, he would help the boy in any way possible, if only to ease his burden before the end.

Starting with the package under his arm.

As it was said, Albus had lived a long life, and in that time he had only once seen the strange blue box before the night before that now rested in the Great Hall of his school. Long ago he had met the man who traveled in the box, a man who had seen far greater and terrible things than Albus Dumbledore could possibly imagine. He knew wherever the box went, danger and wonder followed. And if Harry was to now walk the path of such wonder, well…

He would give him all the help he could get.

-/ↀ\\-

Harry's eyes fluttered open to gaze up at the dark stone ceiling, his mind slowly waking up as he groggily rose from his bed. Looking around he noticed that the sun had yet to rise as a faint glow touched the eastern horizon. The room he was in was dark, but as his eyes focused, he realized he must be in the castle's medical ward, if the rows of patient beds were anything to go by.

Looking down at himself he frowned in disgust at the pale green hospital gown he was wearing. 'Absolute rubbish.' He thought with a sneer, looking around searching for his school robes. He sighed in relief when he found them on top of his trunk, which had been brought to the wing while he was still asleep.

Checking over everything to make sure it was all in place, he was slightly startled when he couldn't find either his wand nor his grandfather's things. He would have pitched a fit had he not turned to look over at the nightstand by the bed, calming down slightly as he saw his other belongings resting on the top. Quickly he gathered everything before he looked around, wondering how he was going to sneak his way from her back to the Tardis.

He knew he would be able to get back to the Great Hall without any trouble. Both his parents had attended this school, so he had a detailed layout of Hogwarts written into his genetic makeup, so that wasn't a problem. But doing so while avoiding night-walking professors, prefects, and Mr. Filch and his bloody cat would prove a challenge.

As he was coming up with a strategy, his eyes flickered toward the foot of the bed, where he finally took notice of a long, thin package with a bow wrapped around it. Curious, he picked it up and undid the bow, and was surprised as something silvery grey slithered onto his lap in gleaming folds. Arching his eyebrow he lifted up the fabric, noting how its appearance almost resembled rippling water, the material like silk in his hands.

It was then that he noticed a note folded inside the box and pulled it out, smoothing the paper out before he began to read.

Your father left this in my possession before he died. Considering recent events, I believe it is time it was returned to you.

Use it well.

Wait. Silvery fabric? Belonged to his father? The cloak! Harry almost whooped for joy before he stayed himself, remembering that he didn't want anyone nearby to know that he was awake. Instead, he ran his hands through the fabric, mesmerized by the runic designs etched into the cloth. The Potter Invisibility Cloak! The cloak had been in his father's family for generations, how many he wasn't sure. Genetic memory only went back a few generations, five at the max if you were lucky. But this was his father's cloak! That was absolutely brilliant!

Grinning from ear to ear, Harry pocketed everything he had except for the cloak and his sonic as he pointed the screwdriver at his trunk, activating the charms on it shrinking down to the size of a tin can. Satisfied, He took one last look around the hospital wing before wrapping the cloak around himself, tiptoeing out into the castle halls.

It took about five minutes for Harry to traverse the halls and stairways before he reached his destination, standing unseen in front of the massive doors of the Great Hall. Reaching forward he started to open the door, wincing as the wooden frame creaked and groaned, echoing down the corridors. Taking a quick glance behind him to make sure no one was coming to investigate, he slipped inside and scanned the room, his hearts pounding in his chest as his eyes fell upon the blue police box.

'Finally.' He let out a sigh of relief, closing the distance between himself and his grandfather's pride and joy. Stepping in front of the doors, he pulled out his key, only to find the lock was missing. Confused, he ran his fingers over the surface of the door, trying to figure it out before a soft warble from within startled him. Harry instantly backed away, assessing her thoughtfully before he gasped, realizing that she was awake.

"Hello there. It's an honor to finally meet you." Harry said in wonder, a small smile of understanding on his lips as the Tardis addressed him irritably.

"Yes, yes, I know I'm not him. He's gone." The Tardis trembled at those words, and Harry couldn't help his hearts from breaking as she cried. Tenderly he reached forward, giving the side of the box what could be described as a hug. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I know how you feel. He was my grandfather."

The Tardis gave a groan and he smiled sadly, stroking her surface with his hand, "I know I'm not him. But, I promise I'll take good care of you, as my grandfather did. I even hope that we can be friends."

The Tardis seemed to weigh his words for a few moments, judging to see if he was worthy. It was a full minute before she gave a few warbles and chimes in acceptance, shaking as a keyhole materialized upon the door, much to Harry's joy.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you! You won't regret this!" He jumped excitedly, pushing his key into the lock and twisted, opening the door wide. His face was then illuminated by the interior of the Tardis, and his eyes lit up in wonder as he took a sharp intake of air.

"Oh... granddad was right, you really are beautiful..." He breathed in admiration, taking her all in before stepping forward. He was about to enter when a screech came from above him as he turned, looking just in time to see a snowy white owl glide down from the rafters, circling the Tardis a few times before landing onto his shoulder. The owl eyed him for a moment, before nibbling his ear affectionately, earning a giggle from the boy.

"Hello girl," Harry spoke softly, running his finger through her plumage, "You wanna come with me?"

Hedwig blinked at him, then bobbed her head as if to say 'of course'. Smiling brightly he reached for the doors and opened them wide, taking a deep breath before stepping inside, closing them behind him.

-/ↀ\\-

Draco Malfoy was a boy on a mission. His father had ordered him to get close to the Potter boy and befriend him, by any means possible. In the event that, should Potter reject him in favor of a blood traitor family or, Merlin forbid, a mudblood, he was to make the boy's life miserable for making such foolish decisions. Draco knew what his priorities were and he stuck to him. He wasn't a fool. He knew what his father would do should he fail.

Of course, the events of the night before had certainly made addressing those priorities difficult. Draco had kept his distance from the boy after seeing how sick he looked, seeking to corner him at a later time. He, along with the rest of the school, had witnessed Potter fall before he could even be sorted, babbling incoherently while dying right there on the spot from being poisoned by his muggle uncle. Draco had learned that bit of information from his sources who had overheard the professors discussing the man named Vernon. The mere idea of a muggle poisoning a wizard filled Malfoy with disgust. How dare the filthy peasant try to murder a wizard, when he should be groveling and kissing at his feet in worship!

But, the most amazing event of the night had been when Potter, weak and barely able to stand, suddenly exploded in golden light and changed. Draco, like everyone else, was still trying to wrap his head around it. Potter had been on the brink of death, only to burst forth in a brand new body, acting if he was high on a cheering potion.

Draco wanted to sneer at the boy's abhorrent behavior. Potter was the heir of an Ancient and Noble House. A blind sheeple family following after the fool Dumbledore, though they may be, were wizard nobility nonetheless. However, another part of him was able to excuse his uncouth actions, he had survived a poisoning and gained a new body, after all. And if he could survive death by physically reincarnating, then that was proof that he was a powerful wizard. That fact alone made Draco all the more determined to make the boy an ally. Such an ability could prove to be an asset, and the Slytherin inside of him demanded he take advantage of this opportunity.

Draco turned a corner and walked at a brisk pace toward his target, his plan already set. Potter had summoned that weird blue box thing, so he reasoned it must be important. He would investigate it further to try to figure out its purpose, and see if he could use it to his advantage. Then, he would mark it with a charm to notify him the moment Potter came to get it, preparing him ahead of time so that he might catch him and get him to see reason.

Yes, he would befriend Potter, and make him see the light that the only way to preserve their way of life was the Pureblood way, the only way. And maybe, just maybe, he would finally make his father proud of him.

Draco was so wrapped up in his thoughts, that when he turned the final corner that would lead him toward the doors of the Great Hall, that he failed to notice the bushy-haired form that came around the other way, the two individuals crashing into each other face-first.

-/ↀ\\-

Hermione Granger was a girl on a mission. She silently crept through the empty halls of the castle, making her way toward the Hospital Wing. She wasn't all that familiar with Hogwarts itself, but she did know that she could get there by going up the Grand Staircase directly in front of the Great Hall. She, however, made it a priority to avoid any professors or prefects that came across her way, quickly darting into the shadows when they passed so she wouldn't get caught out after curfew.

Now Hermione Granger wasn't what you would call a rulebreaker. Far from it, she had an almost obsessive need to do whatever those in authority told her to. But as she hurried down the corridor, she was determined to go against that authority to do what she wanted the night before, and that was to be with her friend while he rested. She had wanted to stay with him throughout the night, but the nurse wouldn't let her, ordering her out of the wing so she could get some rest in the Ravenclaw dormitories. But she couldn't sleep, not when she was worried about Harry.

Hermione wasn't a girl who let her feelings show often, as she liked to drown herself in a book rather than lose her cool. This was something drilled into her by her interactions with school children in the muggle world. But something about Harry made her open up. She told herself she didn't know why she cried, reasoning that she had only known the boy for a few hours. But deep down, she knew the reason, and to her shame, it was a rather selfish one. She had never had a friend before, as the other children she grew up with found her to be annoying and bossy.

But Harry had been different. He had been so open toward her, his willingness to be friendly, despite what she sheepishly admitted was a rather rude introduction on her part, made her heart swell with happiness.

And then, just as she finally found someone she could relate to, he had fallen to the floor as his body clawed unto life. She had become quite emotional about that, which was something she was embarrassed about as she didn't like to lose herself and in most situations kept a level head. But she didn't want to lose him, not when she had made him her first friend.

Then, the most amazing thing happened. Harry had burst into light, blinding the whole student populace as he screamed and cried, and when it was over he was different. So very different. Honestly, if she didn't know any better, she would have thought the boy was hyped up on drugs, bouncing around and babbling like a maniac.

If she was being truthful, she would admit she had been nervous that with this new boy standing in front over her, with his eyes held why as if he was a newborn taking in the world for the first time, he had taken her new friend from her. But when their eyes met, and his bright shining eyes looked into hers, she somehow knew it was him. The scar had only confirmed it. What was more important was that the change hadn't made him desire any less to be her friend, if the way he held her hand was any indication.

Hermione smiled when she thought of that, losing herself to her own thoughts. It was because of this that she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. So it wasn't any surprise that, as she ran around the corner, that she crashed into a blonde student face first, sending the two crumbling onto the floor.

Groaning, Hermione rubbed her head as she picked herself off the ground, squinting in the dimly lit hall as her eyes focused on the platinum blonde hair of the other student sprawled out in front of her.

"You! What are you doing here?!" Hermione shrieked, immediately growing hostile toward the boy. She had met him briefly on the train the day before as she was searching for a place to sit. When she had opened the door of the compartment he was sitting in and introduced herself, he had immediately begun insulting her, criticizing her wild bushy hair and buck teeth, calling her a mangy, mudblood beaver. Being rather self-conscious about her looks, it had taken everything within her not to burst into tears before she slammed the door on him.

"I could ask you the very same question, mudblood," the boy sneered as he pulled himself off the floor, brushing off his cloak before he glared at her, "It's none of your business knowing the actions of your betters."

Hermione's cheeks pinked at the boy's rude attitude, crossing her arms as she shot his glare back with her own "As if you're any better than me, mister. You're just another first-year like I am."

"Please, I am the hair to an Ancient House, with more money and influence than you could ever dream of. Unlike you, who's the unworthy spawn of muggles and their squalor." He turned his back on her and headed toward the doors of the Great Hall, calling over his shoulder, "And it's Malfoy, you ignorant little tart."

Hermione's eye twitched slightly at the insult, looking as if she was about to blow a gasket as the pompous blond devil pushed the doors open. It took only a moment for Hermione to register that Malfoy was up to something, chasing after the ponce as he strutted toward the strange blue box.

"Wait, what are you doing? That thing belongs to Harry!"

"Oh, going on a first-name basis with the Boy-Who-Lived, are we? Typical. Potter's so ignorant of our ways that he's associating with the refuse of society," Malfoy mused, pausing in front of the box as he ran his hand over its surface, "Of course, that's why I'm here."

"What do you mean?"

"To set him straight, of course. Potter is a member of not only an ancient house, but a noble one as well. He shouldn't mingle with riff-raff, and it's my duty as a fellow noble to show him the proper people to associate with."

"Now, what's this here then?" Draco asked the open air, walking around the police box while knocking on its wood, listening carefully as he tried to figure it out. When his hand got to the front, he heard a soft echo that notified him that the thing was hollow, much to his satisfaction. Stepping back, he ran his eyes over the surface until he found a keyhole.

Smiling victoriously, Draco pulled out his wand and pointed at the lock, calling out, "Alohomora!"

To say that he was a bit confused when it didn't work would be an understatement.

Draco blinked as the lock didn't turn, nor did the door give as he pushed his weight on it. Frowning, he cast again, more insistently this time, "Alohomora!" He said hotly, growling when the door wouldn't budge.

Draco banged on the door with his hands, cursing under his breath at this stupid thing that dared defy him. He was pulled from his frustrations when he heard soft giggling from his side, whipping his head around to glare at the snickering muggle-born girl.

"Think it's funny, do you? I'd like to see you do better," He said with a sneer, pulling on his Slytherin cunning to trick the girl into unlocking it for him, hoping that she might be able to succeed where he begrudgingly failed.

Unfortunately, the girl was smarter than that, frowning at him as she addressed him in that bossy tone of hers, "If you think I'm going to do your dirty work for you, you're mistaken. It would be irresponsible of me to let some ferret-faced ponce mess around with something that belongs to a friend. Harry's my friend, and this definitely belongs to him."

Draco bristled at being called 'ferret-face', sniffing indignantly as he glared at her, "Friend? Why would he want to be friends with you? You're just a mudblood."

"And what's the alternative? You?"

"Of course. After all, it's me or nothing at all. Me, him, and this silly old box here," he patted the police box beside him, smiling as her eyes bore into him, "Potter will soon find out that some wizarding families are much better than others, and he shouldn't go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help him there. And that's what I'll do. I'll be right here, waiting for him. What do you say to that, mudblood?" Draco said with a cocky smirk, leaning against the box's door with his hand while standing on one leg.

Then promptly fell flat on his face as the door swung open. Hermione shrieked.

"Malfoy! Get your pale arse out of there, right… now…" Hermione trailed off, gazing in shocked wonder as she stood in the wide-open door frame.

The interior of the police box was massive, spanning to about triple the size of the Gryffindor common room. The doors lead to a platform stepping down onto a polished wooden floor, covered in the middle by an expensive wool rug with circular symbols woven into its design. A coach and lazy chairs were set off to the right, circling a coffee table and actual oak fireplace with bookshelves lining the walls on its side. The walls themselves were covered with deep, royal purple curtains, holding lamps that lit the right side of the room between wooden columns. A spiral stairway led up to a second floor.

The other side of the room was vastly different from the right, grand, and white, the walls lined with circular gold-lined nods that blinked softly in and out. Stands laid about with different knick-knacks and trinkets held under glass domes. Finally in the middle of the wall stood a round archway, which opened up to a gated elevator with gold and bronze trim.

Hermione couldn't help but gap at what she was seeing, slowly stepping back before she darted around the box, trying to figure out where the secret extension was that gave it the illusion she must be witnessing. But no, there was no illusion. By all intensive purposes, the exterior was nothing more than a normal, blue police call box. When that finally registered, she couldn't help feeling a bit faint.

"It… it's bigger on the inside..." She said as she reentered the mysterious box, her focus drawn to a console in the middle of the room momentary distracting her from her shock. She stepped forward looking around in wonder, her gaze lingering on several objects in the room before landing on the console in the middle of the room for the first time. The console was hexagonal in structure with polished wooden paneling. Nobs, buttons, levers, and dials littered the panels, green and red lights blinking in and out. In the center was a round, translucent case with an inner rotor that pumped up and down slowly with a soft wheeze. The glass reached up to the ceiling where it connected to three metallic stacked wheels that increased in size etched with strange circular symbols.

"Pfft. Of course, you'd be impressed, mudblood. Never seen an expansion spell, have you?" Draco brushed it off as he pulled himself off the floor while trying to save his dignity, carefully hiding the fact that he too was shocked and impressed by the sheer scale of what he assumed were advanced expansion charms. 'The Potter's wealth must be greater than I thought' he reasoned to himself.

As the two stepped forward, a screech was heard off to the side pulling their attention to a beautiful snowy owl who flapped her wings at them in irritation. "Hedwig?" Hermione questioned, moving closer to the owl to inspect her. Neither one of them noticed as Harry's head poked out from behind the console, staring at the two in confusion.

"Oi!" He yelled at the students, making them both jump. Out from behind the glass, Harry popped out with a wrench in his hand and magnifying goggles attached to his face, staring at them both intently, "How'd you get in here?"

"I'm sorry! I tried to keep him away from your box, but he just... sort of fell in!" Hermione spoke rather hurriedly, desperately trying to defend herself so she would upset and possibly lose her new friend. Harry lifted the goggles from his eyes, a look of puzzlement echoed in his chestnut orbs.

"She let you in? Curious..." He seemed to zone out for a moment before returning to the console to fiddle on the wirework. The console gave a few faint warbles and chirps, making Harry scowl. "You wha'?" Offended, he banged the board with his wrench, before turning back to Draco and Hermione, a pondering look on his face.

It was then that Hermione took a good look at him, and she could honestly say she was pleased by what she saw. Harry had filled out quite a bit with this new body of his. in fact, he was now just shy above her eye level. It also helped that he had thrown away those rags he had worn on the train for much more respectable attire. His oversized cotton flannel and sweatpants had been replaced by weathered brown trousers and open overcoat that he wore over a deep maroon vest. His worn and moth-eaten tennis shoes had also been replaced with a pair of black and brown Testoni's. He also had a peculiar silvery cloak tucked around his neck like a wrapping scarf, the fabric decorated in several complex runes.

What she really appreciated, however, was the way he presented himself. Before he had made a habit of slouching which made his already small stature appear mousy. Now, however, he held himself straight and dignified, if not a little bouncy. She couldn't help but also appreciate how his long auburn hair curled as they met his shoulders.

"Well then! Welcome aboard the Tardis, I suppose," Harry greeted as he whipped around clapping his hands together as his eyes darted about. He punched a few buttons on the console before the two first-years were pushed aside as he darted past them, tinkering with a screen that had lowered from the ceiling.

Hermione was the first to recover, walking toward him while chewing her lip, "Harry? What exactly is a Tardis? Is it some sort of traveling house?"

"What?" He stared at her looking affronted, quickly shaking his head, "Nonono! She's not a house. Not a house, a trunk, or a glorified toaster. TARDIS! Time and Relative Dimension in Space! AH!" Harry yelped with a happy grin as he started moving again, "There we are!"

"Potter, what's all this about?" Draco demanded, chasing after the other boy. Harry did an about-face, making Draco flinch as he was suddenly nose-to-nose with the red-head.

"Important things, too complicated for your tiny human brain to comprehend. I should know, I'm still working it out myself. Did you say, Potter?" There was a loud ding! from the console as a plate of some dessert popped out of a bottom drawer. Harry grabbed the treat and shoved it into his mouth.

"She's a little rusty, haven't been out for a few decades so everything's gunked up. Need to take her out for a spin..." Harry grimaced suddenly as if he had bitten something particularly foul before he gave an indignant, "Not the treacle tart," he moaned, spitting out the glob of food.

"Potter! What nonsense are you on?" Draco growled suddenly annoyed, grimacing at his lack of attention and poor manners.

"Eh?" Harry took a moment to stare at Draco, taking him all in as if he was seeing him for the first time, "And who might you be, my dear... blonde... fellow?"

"I am Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, heir to the Ancient House of Malfoy." The boy sniffed, raising his chin in a haughty manner, "And I demand that you stop acting like such an uncuff arse and respect the importance of your station!"

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Harry asked in a bored tone.

"That is your place." The blonde said matter-of-factly, "You are an heir to an Ancient and Noble House, half-blood though you may be. You would do well to act like it."

"Oh! Big important pureblood, are ya? Think you know everything," Harry said in a rather mocking tone, his eyes suddenly taking on a mischievous twinkle as he grinned, "Would you like to bet on that?"

"Harry, I don't think-" Hermione tried to warn her friend, becoming uncomfortable with the heated back and forth between the two boys. Draco immediately snapped at her.

"Keep out of this, mudblood!" He sneered at her.

Harry blinked at him for a moment. He seemed to be weighing something over inside his head, before without turning asked, "Hermione, do you trust me?"

"What?" Hermione was taken aback, looking curiously at the ginger.

"Do you trust me?" He asked again, now looking at her with curious eyes.

Hermione blinked, letting herself think about that for a moment. Did she really trust him? Honestly no, she barely knew him. But something about the way he looked at her, with those big brown eyes, she couldn't stop herself from saying anything but yes. So hesitantly, she nodded her head.

"Brilliant." He suddenly ran to the console, racing around it as he pressed buttons and turned knobs, finishing his dance as his hand tightened around the main lever and pulled. The rotor thumped and the wheels spun, letting out a loud wheeze as it started pumping up and down, the nods around the room blinking in and out with the rhythm as the energetic boy smiled madly at the two.

"Hold on tight!" Harry yelled with a laugh as the Tardis faded from the Great Hall. It would be a long time before it returned.

-/ↀ\\-

Steam rose from the street grates between the brick buildings as people walked past the empty alleyway, not a care in the world for the unassuming part of the city. The markets were lively with people and animals yelling, bargaining, and downright squawking in the middle of the day. Wire hangers ran between buildings holding up tapestries with Chinese symbols painted on them. Above the market rooftops that buildings with yìngshāndǐng roofs were stacked on top of each other in elaborate towers, touching the sky with their splendor.

It was here in the empty alleyway that a strong wind picked up out of nowhere, carrying a faint wheezing that grew louder as discarded newspapers and wrappers moved to make way for the object coming into existence.

The outline of the Tardis came to life in the alley unnoticed by anyone, its blue frame standing proudly as it landed with a thud. A moment later the auburn-haired boy stepped out from the doors into the middle of the street, spinning in place with his hands in his pockets as he waited by the Tardis with a knowing smile. Soon the door opened again as Draco and Hermione stepped out, the girl gazing around in astonishment while the boy looked bored.

"Where's Hogwarts? Where are we? Did we just travel?" Hermione asked question after question, pacing around in obvious excitement.

"Yes, yes you could say we have, Hermione," Harry answered with barely hidden amusement, bouncing in place as if he had yet to let them in on a joke, "Welcome to Shan Shen."

Draco snorted, "So what? You portkeyed us to China. Was I supposed to be impressed?" The boy couldn't hold back the amused grin that graced his lips as he gave a bored yawn.

"Oh, I suspect you wouldn't. What big important pureblood would? It's only around the world," Harry fax-pouted before he grinned like the devil, "Except this isn't China."

"Then where, pray tell, are we?" Draco said in a condescending tone. Potter, with that confounded trouble-making smirk of his, held up his hand and slowly pointed up with his index finger, his eyes looking up with mirth. Draco frowned following his gaze as he looked up to the sky, and gasped.

Structures floating on nothing littered the sky with people walking upon them while machines flew past them, hurrying along to their destinations. The sky was clear, almost crystal blue, with thin white clouds that stretched across the horizon. And there, sitting regally just above the white masses, was a massive Saturn-like planet with two moons orbiting it.

Hermione let out a startled gasp, bringing her hands over her mouth to prevent herself from screaming as her eyes darted this way and that. Draco just stood there in stunned silence, feeling a bit faint as his mind tried to wrap around what he was seeing.

"What… what… ?" he mumbled softly, his eyes glued to the sky.

"Did I mention," Potter said, staring at them with a smile that belonged on a supervillain, "She can travel through time and space?"

Both first-years gawked at him with their mouths held open, barely able to comprehend what he had just said.

"Welcome," Harry said as he backed away, his arms outstretched like a circus performer giving a grand show, "To the planet Shan Shen."

-/ↀ\\-

Author's Note:

There you go, that'll get the arrogant ponce to shut up... for five minutes.

Well, there we go. That's what I've got written up so far. I'll be working on the next few chapters and get them up as soon as possible. But, I want to know WHAT YOU ALL THINK. After all, how am I to know if what I'm doing is any good if no one tells me what they think? Terribly confusing. So I'd ask for you to let me know by leaving a comment down below. I'll be reading each and every one, so don't be shy!


	5. The Markets of Shan Shen

The Reapers of Shan Shen

Chapter 5-The Markets of Shan Shen

It was midday in the market as Harry made his way through the crowd on a mission, his companions Hermione and Draco tailing him from close behind. While Harry was absorbed with sniffing out what was being sold by the vendors, the two first-years' eyes were darting about taking in everything around them. They did this without any harassment, as Harry had lent them all badges that provided a psychic suggestion that made others ignore the fact that there were three eleven-year-olds running around unsupervised. Hermione was particularly excited, almost vibrating with excitement at the thought that she was visiting an alien planet! She had so many questions going through her head that she snickered that her brain might explode.

Draco, on the other hand, was in a sort of daze, looking more pale than usual. 'I'm on another planet, I'm on another planet!' Were the words that repeated over and over in his mind, keeping him so distracted he didn't notice the people he bumped into. Draco had been confident that he could handle Potter and whatever antics he might pull, but now he felt the unpleasant notion that he was sorely out of his depth.

While this was happening, Harry couldn't suppress the amused grin on his face. He could truly understand why his grandfather had enjoyed this so much. Sure, he was amazed by everything himself, after all the memory of something paled in comparison to experiencing it in the here and now. But seeing how these little people, who went about their average everyday lives assured in their small corner of reality, respond to being suddenly thrust into the all-encompassing wonders of the universe, it was a delight all in itself.

Now if he could just find something he could eat that he wouldn't immediately spit out. He was starving!

Hermione was the first to come out of her daze long enough to remember how she had ended up in this situation in the first place, or more specifically who. Casting her eyes on the red-head who dashed about the different stalls sampling small tidbits of food, she made her way toward him to get her questions answered.

"Harry, how is all this possible? What sort of magic does the Tardis have?" The girl asked.

Harry picked up a particularly bright fruit from a merchant, "Not magic, Hermione. Just some good ol' fashioned tech. Well, that and some artron energy," he said as he eyed the fruit suspiciously, before giving it a hesitant lick.

"Harry!" Hermione shrieked loudly.

"What?" The boy exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, coming across as more of a whine. Hermione ignored him and grabbed the fruit from his hand and gave it back to the dealer, who snatched it while glaring at them angrily. Hermione just gave him a sheepish smile, before pushing her friend along before he got them into any more trouble.

"Anyway," Harry said with a huff, wrestling out of her grip as he batted a few strands of hair from his eyes, "The Tardis is the pinnacle of time travel technology, allowing an individual to travel to not just any place, but any moment in history."

"But how did you get it? I don't know about anything on Earth that comes close to something this advanced." Hermione questioned, knowing that current scientific knowledge suggested that time travel was impossible.

"Who said it was human tech?" Harry giggled, waving off the question as if it were the silliest thing in the world, "And the Tardis was my grandad's. His people grew it."

"You're not human?!" Draco piped up, piecing together what Potter had implied with those two statements. Harry couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the blonde ponce, having noticed that the boy only contributed to the conversation when it challenged his limited world view. Still, the question did make him think.

"Yes! No. Maybe?" Potter frowned, genuinely considering the question for a moment, "I mean, I was born human, but now that's changed, and honestly I couldn't be more relieved. My experience with other humans, for the most part, hasn't been particularly favorable, so I don't feel that I've lost much."

Hermione chose to ignore the passive aggressiveness of that comment in favor of satting another curiosity, "What do you mean you're not human?"

"Well, I was until about two nights ago. Then I turn around and get my whole DNA rewritten." Harry huffed, crossing his arms as his eyes surveyed for the next food item he could snatch from under the girl's nose.

"You rewrote your genetics? How?" Hermione quirked her eyebrow finding herself quite intrigued, while Draco listened looking lost at the mention of things like 'Denny' and 'Gentex'.

Harry blinked, reaching down into his vest pocket to pull out a chain, holding up a silver pocket watch to their eye level, "With this, this silly old watch. Spent fifty years wasting away, unnoticed. Left in a vault forgotten." He smiled, flipping it around to look at it fondly, "Until... I came along. Wasn't that fortunate?"

"What is it?" Hermione asked curiously, taking it into her hand to study the symbols on display. Harry gave her a mischievous grin, inwardly pleased that she had enough sense to realize it was more than it appeared.

"It's a fob watch. Well actually, it's a biodata module that utilizes a chameleon arch to rewrite DNA and just looks like a fob watch, but what have you? Timelord technology." He couldn't help but snicker at Hermione and Draco's completely lost looks, "Anyway, this little thing can hold everything that makes a Timelord who he is, every thought, every memory, every single cell in his body put right here, right into this little thing."

"Timelord?" Draco pipped.

"It's what I am. I'm an alien." Harry stated matter-of-factly, shrugging his shoulders as he reached for a bowl of food, which happened to be filled with something that was still moving.

"An alien?!" Hermione shrieked causing a few people around her to stare as if she were mad. Considering they were now on an alien planet, you might understand their position. Harry, who had been sniffing the bowl of moving food experimentally, scrunched his nose at her in indignation.

"Oi, I bring you lot halfway across the universe, and you're hitched on the alien bit? What do you want me to do? Say 'take me to your leader'?" Harry said the last part with an odd vibration to his voice, yelping when Hermione cuffed him in the back of his head.

"You're making that up! How could you possibly be an alien?" Hermione shouted, earning a rare nod of agreement from Draco. Harry just rolled his eyes before he shot forward, grabbing both their hands and placing them on his chest, waiting for them to register the two separate beats of his hearts.

It took them a few moments before they realized what they felt, quickly withdrawing their hands as if burnt. The three just looked at each other in silence after that, the two humans staring owlishly while Harry just queried an eyebrow.

"You said it was your grandfather's? How exactly did that translate to turning you into an alien?" Hermione whispered suddenly, trying to gather more information to piece together exactly what was going on.

"And I know for a fact that the Potters go back over seven hundred years. Fleamond Potter couldn't possibly be… whatever lesser creature you're talking about." Draco stated flatly with a mild hint of disgust, grimacing when Potter gave him that confounded smirk again.

"Well you see that's where it gets confusing," He paused at the unamused glares he received from the other two, raising his hands up defensively as he tried to explain, "You see, normally the biodata module would only recognize the individual it was trying to hide when its opened. That way someone random doesn't end up with all your memories and genes. It'll even hide from others to make it seem like the most unimportant thing in the world. Security measures if you will."

Draco perked up, a thought popping into his head, "Like a 'Notice-me-not' charm?"

"Hey, good for you," Harry smiled as he patted Draco on the head, electing a sputter from the boy as he straightened his hair. Hermione couldn't help but giggle at the blonde as he sniffed and sent a death glare at the redheaded menace.

"But… grandad's gone. Died before I was born." At this, Harry seemed to grow a little sad, staying silent for a moment before he seemed to snap out of his malaise, "So! The module was left with all his data with nothing to download it to."

He looked up at them both, seeming to ponder something, "If I were to guess, I would say that because my DNA was so close to grandad's because we're blood-related, the bio-circuit recognized me as close enough to transfer the information into me. Then BOOM! Instant Timelord!"

"And as for your question," Harry pointed his finger at Draco, a slight frown on his face as he did so, "I never said anything about it being from dad's side of the family. Nonono, the Tardis belonged to grandpa Evans."

Draco frowned. How could Potter's muggle grandfather have anything so remarkable? And what was an alien? Were Timelords some foreign magical creatures, like Veela? If that was so, then that made Potter a half-breed, making Draco's opinion of him drop even lower.

"So, what do you plan to do with it?" Hermione finally asked, changing the subject.

"Me?" Harry frowned, caught slightly off guard by the sudden question, "Oh, I suppose travel the universe, see as much as I can see, do as much as I can do. That sort of thing."

"But what about Hogwarts? We need to get back before we're missed." Hermione pointed out. As much as she was astonished by the possibilities that Harry and his Tardis offered, she knew that it would be irresponsible for them to continue going on journeys only to skip school in the process. She found herself

"Why?"

"Well, we-" Hermione started to say, only to be cut off as someone ran into her shoulder. Hermione stumbled then turned, her eyes darting around to see who had run past. She was able to catch a glimpse of an older boy running around people before vanishing down a vacant alley. It was a moment later that a call came from behind her.

"Pi Shan!"

Hermione turned just in time to watch a young girl run in the direction of where the boy had gone, sliding across the street as she turned into the alley. As her eyes lingered on the girl, she turned to see if anyone else was coming. As she turned, she caught a glimpse that sent a chill up her spine.

Stand there, in the middle of the street with people passing by as if they were not there, were two, tall men, pale as corpses, one in white robes and the other in black. They boy had the appearance of old men, both with long stereotypical Fu Manchu style beard and moustache. The girl was having a hard time deciding what was more disturbing. The fact that their mouths were toothless black voids that resembled the Greek muses of tragedy and comedy, or that they were both staring right at her.

"Hermione!"

The girl jumped with a start, blinking owlishly At Harry as he put his hand on his hip, staring at her.

"What are you staring at? I've been calling you for the past fifteen seconds." Harry asked with a frown, an unreadable expression held behind his brown eyes.

"I thought I saw..." Hermione turned to look back at where the two men were, only to find the street absent of the strange specters.

"Saw what?" Harry's eyes narrowed.

"...Nothing." Hermione sighed, shaking her head. Harry nodded his head but looked toward the area she had been staring at, piercing his lips.

"Well, I for one am absolutely starved, and I wouldn't mind trying the local cuisine. Come along!" He said with a flourish, walking down the street at a brisk pace. Draco followed close behind.

"Really, mudblood. Not all there?" Draco mocked over his shoulder with a slight upward curl on his lips, finding himself somewhat amused. Hermione growled and turned away, taking one final look at where the two men had vanished before following the two boys down the road.

-/ↀ\\-

Pi panted heavily as he snaked his way down the back alleys and corridors of the city, desperately trying to get away from his pursuers. He knew he couldn't stay on Shan Shen any longer. He knew the truth of the virus, and if there was any hope of him exposing what he had seen, he needed to get offworld, now!

Turning a particularly sharp corner, Pi growled when he came face to face with a dead end. Cursing under his breath, he turned back, looking for a way out of the alley so he could get across the city to the spaceports.

"Pi? Pi?! Where are you?"

Pi's eyes widened as his head snapped to where the voice was coming from, shaking in fear as he watched his sister coming out of the alley he had come out of moments before. The girl took a moment to survey her surroundings before her eyes fell on her brother, gasping before running over to him.

"Pi? Brother, why did you not come home? You've been missing for three days!" She admonished him while crossing her arms, though she couldn't hide how much she was worried about him by the cracks in her voice.

"Lee, there's no time to explain. I'm in big trouble, we need to get offworld!" Pi exclaimed in a panic, grabbing her shoulders as he met her eyes. The girl shook off his hold on her arms in shock.

"What?! No, brother. You need to come home! You're all I have left after mamma and papa died." She spoke the last part with a hitch in her throat. Their parents had both died recently due to a plague that had fallen upon the city, the pain still fresh in her mind.

Pi just growled, grabbing hold of her again, shaking her firmly, "Lee, you have to listen to me! Mama? Papa? The other people dying from the virus? They're not dying because they're sick! The virus is just a coverup for what's really doing all of this!"

"Pi? What are you talking about? You're not making any sense." Lee whispered worriedly, suddenly concerned by what had gotten her brother to act so erratically.

"Please! Just listen to me! They're after-!" Pi paused in the middle of his sentence, his eyes widening as he stared right behind her. Cautiously, Lee turned around to see what had gotten his attention, frowning when she didn't see anything, other than a low mist that rolled into the passage from the adjacent alleyway.

Pi on the other hand, was scared speechless. They're here! He knew the signs when they appeared. The rolling mist, the frigid chill in the air that froze your bones, and the crushing sense of foreboding and doom. He had hoped to have lost them a few streets back, how foolish of him. There was no escaping them. They would chase him down until they had him, and he panicked when he realized that Lee was now caught between them. If nothing else, he had to save her!

"Lee, you have to go, now!" Pi shouted harshly, his grip on her tightening as he stepped between her and the mist, his eyes looking around for anything that could help him.

"W-What? Pi? What's going-"

"No time! Get off the planet, please! Before they get you too!" Pi grabbed his sister by the arm and dragged her toward a large pile of garbage and bins, pushing her behind the mass and he buried her out of sight, "Hide!"

Pi moved away from the pile and darted his head frantically, pacing back and forth at the dead end like a caged animal. It was as he was formulating a possibility to escape that he noticed the dense fog roll across his feet, covering the alley in a grey vale.

Eyes wide he turned sharply toward the entrance of the alley, his body trembling as he eyes fell upon two ghostly men, shrouded in the mist. Both forms were as pale as the grave, standing rigid as they each held up a wooden sign with both hands. Pi's heart quickened its pace as both men stared right at him, as if judging him for a moment with an unsettling tilt of their heads, the movement held in perfect unison.

It was then that the man in white stepped forward, leaving its dark companion behind as it stretched its arm forward, grabbing for the boy. In desperation Pi pulled out a long metal pipe from the ground, rushing forward to meet the man as he swung the weapon forward.

But instead of impacting against his assailant's head, the pipe moved right through it, throwing the boy off balance as he stared at the pipe wide-eyed. Looking up at the unnatural smile on its face, Pi felt a shiver run down his spine as he dropped the pipe, backing away as the metal hit the ground with a clang.

"No, no! Please! You're supposed to be our guardians! You can't do this!" Pi stepped back as far as he could, panicking when he was met with the stone surface of the wall behind him. There would be no escape now. He realized this with absolute horror as the man in white stepped forward, its feet shuffling across the ground beneath its flowing robes as it reached for him.

"NO! NO! STAY AWAY! NOO!" Pi shrieked as the Muse of Thalia grabbed him, pressing its hands into the boy's face as he let out a terrified scream.

-/ↀ\\-


	6. The Wagabel Virus

The Reapers of Shan Shen

Chapter 6-The Wagabel Virus

Harry, Draco, and Hermione had just entered a street-open restaurant when they heard a high-pitched scream crying out from one of the side alleyways. Several people stopped what they were doing and ran toward the commotion, and not wanting to be left out on what was going on, Harry took off too, leaving his two companions to chase after him.

When the three arrived, a huge crowd had gathered round in a circle, blocking their line of sight. Frustrated and impatient, Harry pushed and shoved his way through the tight mass of people, making it to the center where the cause of all the commotion made his eyes bulge. Draco and Hermione were by his side in an instant, confused by what had so shocked him, before they both looked down at what he was looking at and gasped.

In the center of the crowd lay a body, so badly mutilated it was barely recognizable. Its eyes sunken and skin charred, it was barely flesh and bone. It was as if all the moisture in the body had been sucked out, leaving nothing but a frightful mummy, its face contorted in an agonized scream.

Hermione lifted her hand to her mouth, holding back the urge to vomit. The idea of dying in such a way made her shudder, idly wondering what Harry had dragged her into. Draco was of a similar mind, though also somewhat fascinated by whatever could have caused this. The boy had grown up in a household that embraced the horrific and morbid, and he felt an inward desire to learn more.

Their thoughts were put on hold as a man stepped forward through the crowd, wearing a medical face-mask to shield himself from the air. The man immediately got to work, pulling out multiple instruments from his handbag.

“Poor devil. Another victim falls to the virus, I suppose.” One of the bystanders said nonchalantly, startling at the indigent yelp by his side.

“Wha’?!” Harry’s eyes bugged out of his head as he snatched his coat in his hand, pulling it up to cover his face, “Virus?! Virus you say? What virus?”

“Off-worlders, eh? Suppose you wouldn’t know too much about it.” The man who was operating on the body spoke, who was clearly a doctor as he studied a tissue sample of the skin thoughtfully, “Been at it for a few months now.”

“Came almost overnight. Affects anyone, young or old, healthy or not. Creates delirium and hallucinations and horrible boiling of the skin until, well, I suppose you get the idea.” The doctor gave an uneasy smile, before snapping his gloved fingers to make way for a group of men in hazmat suits to clear away the body.

Harry shifted uncomfortably as they went about their work, his eyes paying close attention to how they handled the body as they prepared it for transport. Draco sneered in disgust, coving his nose from the pungent smell that permeated the air.

“If I were you lot, I’d keep my distance from most others. So far the pathogen has only been affecting the local populace, but the possibility of it carrying over to foreign species is I fear inevitable. You best go about your business and leave.”

“Oh, I have no doubt we’ll do just that. Tell me,” Harry spoke in a casual tone, seemingly unfazed by what he had seen as though it were discussing the weather, “Where are you taking that fellow’s body?”

“There’s a clinic a few streets down for cases such as this. Now excuse me, I have little time to waste.” The doctor informed before departing, leaving the three to stand alone as the crowd dispersed. 

“Oh, that was absolutely dreadful, I can’t imagine any disease doing that,” Hermione said with a shiver, her eyes downcast and sad.

“Yes, did you notice his face?” Harry asked passively, staring off in the direction the men had taken the body.

“It was like he was in pain.” Draco nodded, keeping his distance from anything he considered might be contaminated. Potter shrugged his shoulders.

“Or terrified.”

Hermione and Draco paused, rolling Harry’s comment over in their minds before looking at each other, sharing a rare comradery of confusion.

“Well, the man did say the virus made you hallucinate. Why? Do you think it was something else?” Hermione asked, wondering what the boy could be thinking.

“With the state of the body? As if all the hydration was removed at once?” Harry asked with an eyebrow raised, looking at her oddly as if she were slow, “Let’s just say I’m not so convinced.”

Sniff.

Harry’s head darted to the side, his two comrades leaning over to look where the sound had originated. Knowing everyone else had left, hearing the sniffle had immediately drawn their attention to a pile of garbage off to the side. Instinctively Draco rose his wand defensively, while Harry and Hermione reached forward taking a handful of trash. They looked at each other and nodded, then yanked the trash out of the way.

They were all surprised to see a young girl curled up against the wall, wide-eyed and dirty as she gazed at them in alarm. She was no older than twelve, judging by her appearance, though it was possible that she was even younger than them. Long black hair clung to her face messily, giving her a somewhat unhinged look. She clutched a large tin can in her hands, staring at them with a look that screamed in outright terror.

“D-Don’t hurt me! Please! Stay away!” The girl shrieked, brandishing the heavy can at them before throwing it out of fear. Harry and Hermione quickly ducked, allowing the projectile to sail overhead. It was then unfortunate, at least if you saw it that way, when the projectile impacted directly with Draco’s face.

“Ow!” Draco squawked, reaching up to grab the spot on his forehead where the can had smacked him. Hermione ignored him and focused on the girl, raising her hands up to show she wasn’t planning on doing anything as she stepped forward to examine her. The poor girl looked scared out of her mind, tear tracks marking her cheeks as her eyes darted about madly.

“Hey, it’s alright. No one’s going to hurt you.” Hermione reassured her as she leaned in to console her, frowning when the girl flinched back in fear.

“They killed him. They murdered my brother!” The girl whimpered, curling into herself as she cried. Hermione’s features softened, biting her lip while unsure of what to do.

“Who’s they?” Hermione probed, looking up as Harry crouched down beside her.

“What’s she on about? She’s not making any sense. Mental I say, Potter, mental I say.” Draco growled, voicing his opinion, despite no one asking for it. He was obviously quite sore over her previous assault.

“Of course she’s not making any sense, she’s delusional, completely hysterical. So why don’t you tell me more?” He leaned in with an almost excited smile. Hermione narrowed her eyes as he did so, not liking how he presented himself to the distraught girl.

“Who are you?” The girl finally asked, her voice tense as she glared at Harry suspiciously. The redhead seemed frozen, taking a moment to consider the question before a smile crossed his lips.

“I’m the Potter, as the blonde effeminate fellow standing behind me likes to remind me every five minutes,” Harry told the girl, ignoring Draco who spluttered in indignation, “Do you want to tell us yours?”

The girl hesitated, wondering if she could really trust this strange boy, let alone the other two he brought along. However, unlike before, where the boy seemed almost insensitive in his interaction, he showed a more caring side as he reached out for her hand, smiling kindly as he did so. Gone unnoticed was the flicker of shimmering emerald in his eyes before they reverted back to brown.

“Now I know you’re scared. I would be too in your situation. I mean look at us. Three strangers cornering an unset girl in the middle of an abandoned alley. Not exactly the set up most want to find themselves in. However,” He paused, looking her straight in the eye, pulling his hand away and offering it to her freely, “I assure you, if there’s any stranger you would need, it’s me. I only want to be a friend, let me help.”

The girl sat silently as she stared at his outstretched hand. She didn’t know why, but she could feel his geniality as he spoke. She had never understood how she could almost instinctively pick up on the intent of others. It was almost like a sixth sense, as it were. Sometimes it helped her, sometimes it saved her, and every time it frightened her. But for now, she knew she could trust him.

“Lee. My name is Lee.” She said in a quiet voice, reach up to take his hand in hers.

“Okay, Lee. Mind tell us what happened?” He asked, squeezing her hand gently for reassurance. 

“I… I don’t know. These monsters… they came and took my brother, turned him into that husk. I don’t know what they did, I was so scared.” Lee started to shake, whether from the cold of the alley or the shock of the whole situation the three companions weren’t sure. Still, Hermione was quick to wrap the girl into a hug, providing warmth and comfort.

“I couldn’t believe what happened, it's insane. And now that doctor went and said that my brother had the virus?! What kind of doctor can’t tell when someone’s been murdered?!” The girl roared through her tears, shaking her head morosely into Hermione’s shoulder.

“Yes, I’ve been hearing about this virus. Mind explaining it to us ‘off-worlders’?” Harry asked, quirking an eyebrow inquisitively. 

“The Wagabel virus. It started popping up almost a year ago. Makes the sick go through hallucinations and these, these burns on their skin. And then they die, and dry up like Pi” Lee’s voice hitched as she wiped away a few tears, shaking her head angrily, “But my brother wasn’t sick! I saw him two days ago, and he was fine! It isn’t possible. Oh, you probably don’t believe me, it sounds so stupid.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. I can believe in many impossible things.” Harry’s eyes narrowed, piercing his lips as he thought for a moment. “Tell me, would you happen to know where they would have taken your brother’s body. I don’t mean to be insensitive!” He raised his hands up in quick defense at the looks of outrage from the two girls, “But if I’m going to help, I need to know what I’m dealing with and for that, I need to examine the body.”

Lee sniffed, letting herself calm down enough to reason that what he was saying made sense, before slowly nodding her affirmative. Harry’s face morphed into a determined portrayal of strength and confidence, standing up and he pulled the girl up to her feet.

“Show me.”  
-/ↀ\\-  
The clinic was nestled between two three-story buildings three blocks over, its exterior almost being swallowed by its neighbors. Its break walls were well worn with age, and littered with old advertisements and notices that had been planted on top of each other over the years. It was here that Lee led the three Terrians, looking upon the building with varying degrees of interest.

Draco surveyed his surroundings with his usual glare of disgust, holding up his robe tails with the hope of keeping them from dragging along the filthy street. It was rather amusing to watch the blond pounce strutting around like a high society woman tiptoeing after a rainy day afraid to get her dress wet. Hermione certainly would have laughed had she not been focused on Lee, keeping the girl calm over her loss and providing comfort when she could.

Potter, on the other hand, had a calculating look as he gazed upon the rundown clinic. This was likely an off branch of the main medical facility of this district, however, they would certainly have plenty of files covering cases of this virus. Harry wouldn’t be satisfied until he had gotten a look at those.

He didn’t know why, but something felt off about all of this. Call it a feeling, but Harry knew fear, and he knew pain. One could say he was rather intimate with the two. So, as he could tell the subtle differences just by observation, he knew the look on the dead boy’s face was a startling mixture of both.

Upon entering the building, the quartet was immediately disturbed by the number of bodies laid out on the floor in black plastic bags. The smell certainly wasn’t encouraging either, as the kids took a few moments to compose themselves enough so that they wouldn’t puke from the stench. Old paint was peeling off the walls of the reception area, as long shadows were cast across the floor in long strides.

“Hello? Is there anyone here?” Hermione called, feeling somewhat anxious by the clinic’s somewhat creepy atmosphere. 

“What do you want?!” a gruff voice growled from behind, making the four kids jump before they spun around. Standing before them was a man that, by all accounts, was ill suited to be considered a doctor. The man was unceremoniously filthy, with grungy skin that looked as though he had washed in weeks. He was also a bit unkempt, what with a hanging gut, unruly hair, and in desperate need of a shave.

The man looked at them with tired, impatient eyes, his doctor’s coat hanging open lazily as his gaze zeroed on Hermione with an annoyed countenance.

Before Hermione could reply, however, Harry pushed himself forward with a curious and enthusiastic grin.

“Ah! Yes, Mister… Hayashida!” Harry confirmed with a quick glance at the tag above the doctor’s chest pocket. “Dingy and ruff, with a bit of ill-mannered attitude combining to make a personality that won’t back down unless it’s someone in authority. In that case, we’re Secretaries of the Planetary Surgeon General!”

The words rolled out of Harry’s mouth in such a way that the doctor couldn’t keep up, only picking up on the tail end of his statement as the boy waved a seemingly blank piece of paper in front of his face.

“And why are you here? You guys upstairs don’t tend to come down here to the slums.” Dr. Hayashida asked suspiciously.

“Yeah, well, how better to know how to run the top than by observing what happens at the bottom?” Harry said with a slight upturn to his lips, “In any case, with Wagabel spreading around, we felt it prudent to get up close and personal with some of the more recent cases. Oh my, how careless of me, these are my colleagues, Malfoy and Granger.”

Dr. Hayashida snorted at that, extending his hand to greet the aforementioned duo. Draco shook the man’s hand reluctantly, grimacing at the filth that stuck to his hand afterward. He couldn’t help but consider his observations of Potter, however, begrudgingly admiring his ability to give a convincing straight-faced lie completely on the nose.

After they had all finished the pleasantries, Dr. Hayashida turned to the final member of the group, frowning at the nervous look in her eyes, “And who’s the kid?”

“Ah, this would be Lee. She’s the one to actually direct us to your particular clinic. We were led to believe her brother’s body was just brought in?” Harry let the words hang in the air, letting the unspoken request to see said body sink in.

“You wanna see the stiff? It’s off to the right.” Dr. Hayashida huffed, ignoring the girl’s flinch at his words as he led them from reception to a corridor off to the right. Hermione frowned.

“You’d think a doctor would have better bedside manners,” Hermione muttered, glaring at the man’s back with cutting eyes whenever she wasn’t watching Lee with concern.

“Modern Shan Shen standards leave a lot to be desired. Any incompetent nitwit can get a medical practice as long as they can operate a basic social interface.” Harry informed with a stage whisper, causing a shiver to run down the girl’s spine at the implication of his statement.

It wasn’t long before Dr. Hayashida showed them to the autopsy room sealed off by a heavy steel door. Taking out a card, he slid it through a scan lock with a click, the pressure lock releasing with a low hiss. Stepping inside, he gestured for them to follow.

Lee was the first to give any reaction as she took a sharp intake of air. Her brother’s body was left out in the open on the examiner’s slab, his lower half covered while his chest cavity was exposed to the chill air of the morgue. Dr. Hayashida stepped in front of them, walking around the table as he pulled a pair of gloves and a scalpel.

“This your brother?” He asked, looking up from his work as he cut open a section of the muscle above the sternum, staring at the young girl as he did so.

“Y-Yes...” Lee stuttered in a barely audible voice, her face growing pale at the shriveled naked corpse before her.

“You’re just in time then, I was about to perform a removal of the heart. Or, at least, what’s left of it.” Dr. Hayashida state, just as he reached in and pulled out a plum-sized objected, shriveled and dripping in the tar-like sustenance for all fo them to see.

Understandably, it wasn’t long before Lee, teary-eyed and green, ran out of the room with an outraged Hermione chasing after her. Harry didn’t seem to notice as he focused on the autopsy, while Draco just couldn’t find a reason to care.

Potter grabbed a scanner from the nearby table, placing it onto the corpse’s head as it blinked and clicked out its readings, giving him an estimate of the initial prognosis. Harry read the readings with a frown, dropping the device as he gave in to his own observations.

“Shrivallying of the skin, caused by a complete hydration reversal… organs broken down into a tar-like state via pyrolysis?” Harry’s hand reached into the chest cavity, taking a fair amount of the black sludge on his fingers and sniffed causing his nose to scrunch up, disbelief at the conclusions of this world’s medical elite, “All this from a virus?”

“It looks like the weathering curse,” Draco said ideally. Dr. Hayashida froze in the middle of his paperwork at the declaration, keeping his nose down as he quietly listened in on the exchange.

“What?” Harry asked, intrigued that Draco had actually made a suggestion as he wiped his hand off on a rag.

“The weathering curse. Here, look.” Draco reached forward and lifted the right arm, “The skin’s tried up, right? As if all the moisture has been sucked out? That’s good and all, it’s one of the symptoms of the virus.”

“But also look at the complexion. The skin has blackened and cracked, as if burned, and there’s a hint of thyme to the body’s smell. It’s suspiciously similar to the after-effects of that particular dark curse.” Draco explained expertly, his knowledge on the matter stunning the redhead.

“You came up with that all by yourself? My god, Draco, you’re improving.” Potter breathed, his eyes sparkling with admiration.

Draco blinked. “I am?” He asked as he stood a little straighter, feeling pleased with himself. Now perhaps he’ll acknowledge the superior intelligence my purity graces me with. He thought smugly, the idea reflecting in the arrogant smirk on his lips.

“Yes. Though, of course, it’s completely my influence. You mustn’t take any credit.” Potter stated rather dryly before turning away, using all his willpower not to laugh as the blonde spluttered and fumed. He took a certain pleasure in insulting the ferret, and though he had plenty of his own material to stick him with, it didn’t hurt to pull one from his grandfather’s better jabs.

“They all come like this, burned, with their insides turned into that tar substance,” Dr. Hayashida added his own two cents, an look on his face that almost wonderment, “Why, just last week, I was called into the lower district. Whole family like this. House needed to be burned, that tar covering everything like the vomited it all up.”

“Yes, morbidly fascinating. May I see your records?” Harry asked abruptly, smiling as Dr. Hayashida grunted before leading him to a room in the back crammed with filing cabinets and boxes overflowing with yellow folders. Harry however was not intimidated, jumping right into the first cabinet as he flipped open his first folder.

Harry spent a good half hour studying the different cases filed away, gather information, and cross-referencing, then reorganizing his thoughts so he could analyze the data again. During his study, he came across a few facts that proved to be recurring throughout his search, insignificant to most unless they knew what to look for. It was not something that set well with him.

“Fever, hallucinations, all fatalities seem non-discriminatory, and yet...” Harry paused in his personal monologue, a look of contemplative concentration molded into his brow, “Nearly all children under the age of eleven from victim families disappear. Why? Where do they go? Why eleven?”

He soon came to a startling realization as he ran out of the room, pulling Draco with him as he searched for Hermione. He found her after scouting a few rooms in a lounge area, where she was busy consoling Lee who had her head buried in her hands weeping.

“Right. Hermione, Lee? I think we’ve gotten what we came here for.” Harry declared, clapped his hands, drawing their attention as he energetically hopped on the balls of his feet.

“So do you believe me?” Lee asked, looking up at him while wiping her tears from her eyes.

Harry nodded, “Unfortunately, I do.”

“Harry, what’s going on? Did you figure out what’s happening?” Hermione asked, having spent the last few minutes listening to the girl talk about the fog men.

“I have a theory. Well, more speculation than anything, but! Evidence is pointing to one conclusion, and Draco’s discovery doesn’t bode well on matters, either.” Harry answered grimly. 

“Malfoy?” Hermione questioned, turning to the blonde, who glared at Harry for putting him in the position of having to explain things to the mudblood.

“I don’t think her brother died from a virus, at least from what I’ve seen. If you must know, all the signs point to a particularly dark curse instead.”

Hermione frowned, “But it can’t be, can it? I mean, we’re on another planet, magic can’t exist out here, right? Unless, of course, it’s a universal constant, such as gravity?” Hermione theorized, causing both Harry and surprisingly Draco to consider her words. None of them, however, noticed as Dr. Hayashida inched closer to the door.

Draco scoffed, “I admit, the concept of being on another world is a phenomenal concept, but magic? Only wizards and some… lesser beings of the wizarding world should have it, right?”

“Grandfather never encountered it during his travels, no. But then again, he never discovered it on Earth, either, and we know that absence of evidence doesn’t necessarily dismiss it as a reality.” Harry pointed out, earning a begrudging nodded from Malfoy who had to concede to Potter’s sound logic.

“In any event, we need to be cautious. If magic was involved in this, you can believe that there’s a darker element at the center. Lee, I’m sorry you became involved in all this, but I suggest we--” Harry never finished his sentence, as his body tensed as the sound of the locking mechanism on the door activated.

The four children slowly turned to look at Dr. Hayashida, who was glaring at them with pure hatred in his eyes. The couldn’t help but shutter under the cold gaze, knowing something was definitely wrong. Harry swallowed as he watched the man shaking, taking a calculated step forward.

“Doctor Hayashida? Do you mind telling us what you’re doing? You look a bit on edge.” Harry asked, his eyes narrowing as he eyed the doctor’s hands fidget toward the back of his pants.

“Curses, magic? You’re one of them, aren’t you? All of you! Abominations!” Dr. Hayashida shouted in both fear and anger, backing away from the others. The wizards looked a bit concerned at each other, worried by his sudden hostility.

“Now, Doctor Hayashida, please. We aren’t a danger. There’s no need to pan--!” Harry started to say, trying to placate the man only to be cut off with a snarl.

“Stay back!” Dr. Hayashida screamed, silencing them as he whipped out a Quwndaran pistol, a look of pure and utter disgust flicking in his eyes. Harry recognized it as an illegal atomic particle destabilizer that could vaporize a body in moments. Not even he could survive that. “Stay. Back. Oh, I see it now. All this death is because of you! You’ve always brought doom upon our planet, freaks!”

Whatever arguments Harry may have presented to reason with the man died as his jaw snapped shut, his nostrils flaring with a sharp inhale. Hermione watched as her friend’s body tightened like a spring ready to snap, shivering as his eyes took on a coldness she had never seen on another person.

Draco felt similarly unnerved looking at him. He felt genuine fear and couldn’t help but flinch as the intensity in the redhead’s eyes uncomfortably reminded him of his own father when he caught him doing something he didn’t approve of. As an uneasy silence fell upon the room, the two humans took a few uneasy steps back, unsure what to do as the Timelord glared at the man.

The silence however was broken a moment later by a scream.

“It’s them!” Lee howled in fear, pointing behind Dr. Hayashida.

Harry, Hermione, and Draco’s attention immediately snapped toward the entry to the morgue. Standing at the entrance, wrapped in a cloud of grey mist, stood two, corpse-like figures who were the complete opposite of each other, one smiling and robed in white while the other frowned clad in black. The three quickly looked back and forth between the shrouded men to the terrified girl, quickly making the connection between these phantoms and her brother’s death.

Dr. Hayashida turned around for a moment to catch what had startled the freaks, scowling as he wiped back around, pointing the gun at them menacingly.

“Ha, cute. What other idiotic tricks are you going to try next?” The man sneered, oblivious to the black shroud of Melpomene step forward, its hands outstretched toward him.

“Doctor Hayashida, you need to back away from the door! Please, they’re going to--!” Hermione stepped forward to try and pull him back, only to cry out in pain as the Doctor backhanded her across the cheek with the butt of his gun.

“Quiet! You’ll keep quiet and do as you’re told!” Dr. Hayashida snarled as he stepped back, closing the distance between himself and the oriental phantom. “I’m going to call the authorities, and then we’ll wait for them to show. They have ways of disposing of your unnatural lot.”

Draco growled and started shouting at the man, incensed by his idiocy, “Would you put that childish toy away, you stupid muggle?! Can’t you see we’re trying to warn you of the phantom right behind you?! Can’t you even see it, you ignorant orangutan?!”

The shouting between everyone continued to grow in volume, fueling the confusion while the black shroud stepped even closer, his hands almost touching Dr. Hayashida’s head. The shroud tilted its utmost as if amused, the fog at its feet wrapping around the doctor to swallow him, not that he seemed to notice.

The only one who was quiet was Harry, which didn’t go unnoticed by Hermione. She spared a quick glance at the boy, and couldn’t help the cold shiver at what she saw. While the others were trying to warn the fool of the danger, Harry watched on in morbid fascination. His chestnut eyes, normally so warm and curious, now appeared like a deep, dark abyss. He just stood by and watched, a calculated look in his features as he observed events unfold.

It seemed that Dr. Hayashida had picked up on this as well, his eyes flaring with rage as he set his weapon to full sharp, his finger itching against the trigger, “What are you staring at, freak?! You won’t put a spell on me!”

Dr. Hayashida jerked his arm forward, fully intending to put a bolt into Harry’s skull. At that moment, the phantom reached forward and grabbed the man by the neck, its gnarled fingers curling around his face before igniting in a fiery white glow. Suddenly Dr. Hayashida let out a painful shriek, dropping the gun to the floor as he reached up to his face, desperately clawing at whatever had grabbed him.

“AHHHH!” The doctor screamed as smoke rose from the phantom’s hands in contact with his cheeks, filling the room with the stench of burning flesh. The group of four were gripped in horror as energy seemed to flow from the doctor’s body into the muse, his skin constricting and tightening against bone as he was reduced to nothing more than a weathered corpse.

The black shroud let go as Dr. Hayashida’s now lifeless body fell to the floor, giving a wet slap as it smacked into the tiles. Somehow they managed to keep themselves from losing their lunch as they slowly looked up to the two phantoms, the white shroud joining his counterpart standing side by side. The muses took a moment to observe the group as they tilted their heads to the side in unison, studying them as silent as the grave.

Their observations came to a sudden halt, of course, much to the panic horror of the kids when they joined together in a cruel, twisted laugh that echoed unnaturally. The sound vibrated in the air with the feeling of being drenched in a bucket of water during winter, their cackling broken and distorted as they both reached for the four children, prepared to enact Dr. Hayashida’s fate upon them with open hands.  
-/ↀ\\-  
Author’s Note: Did you know that at one point Richard Griffiths was supposed to take on the role of the Doctor after Sylvester McCoy? So somewhere, in some weird, abomination of an alternative timeline, Harry’s grandfather could have been Vernon Dursley. Yeah, try to wrap your head around that for a moment.


	7. The Shamans

The Reapers of Shan Shen

Chapter 7-The Shamans

The doors to the clinic hallway swung wide as the four children ran for their lives. Harry was in the lead, coat billowing behind him with Hermione and Lee not far behind. Draco was last but moved the fastest, almost running the others over as he tried to put as much distance between himself and the phantoms, screaming like a girl as he did so.

“Harry, where do we go?!” Hermione said, her eyes panicked after what she had seen happen to the doctor.

“I don’t know, I’m thinking!” Harry shouted back, ruffling his hair wildly in agitation.

“Harry!” Hermione screamed, watching as the grey fog bellowed through the cracks of the hallway doors.

“Thinking!”

“For Merlin’s sake, Potter, think faster!” Draco practically shouted in his ear, looking on in terror as the phantoms materialized in the fog.

“Right, doors! Doors on all sides, none leading outside. No way out so we’re trapped inside, trapped inside with them!” Harry rambled as he spun in place, scratching his head, “Doors! Slip through with no effort, unless you can seal the door. Except!”

Harry’s eyes widened as he remembered a previous observation, his legs snapping forward as he pushed through the group in a full sprint, “MOOOORGUE!”

Quickly the others chased after him to the end of the hall, where a thick white door with a round glass window in the center stood. Harry slammed his fist into the door, his eyes dancing around the frame to figure out how to get it open.

The specters tilted their heads as if made curious by his actions, before shuffling forward with their twisted faces mocking them. Lee whimpered as she moved to Harry’s side, looking up to the boy’s face.

“Please hurry!” Lee cried, her voice shaking as the phantoms drew near.

“Don’t worry, Lee, no door’s gonna get the best of me! I have a clever plan!” He said with conviction, turning back to the door with a determined expression in his eyes.

“But how?! You’re just kids like me! What can you do?!” Lee shouted, stepping back when Harry’s head whipped around at her, his face unreadable as his eyes focused on her as if she were naked.

Suddenly, Draco, Hermione, and Lee immediately snapped to attention as the specters let out their cruel laugh, their forms only a few feet away from them now. Quickly, they backed away as far as they could, turning around to see how much progress Harry had made.

“Harry, open the stupid door!” Hermione shrieked in panic, smacking his arm repeatedly.

“I’M TRYING! STOP YELLING AT ME!” Harry snapped, making the girl give a startled jump. 

“POTTER!” Draco screamed, sweat rolling off his face as the white phantom reached forward, its bony hands mere inches from his face. Harry saw this too, his eyes betraying him as he began to worry.

It was then that Harry suddenly slapped himself on the forehead, his mouth formed in a pronounced ‘o’.

“Oh, I’m thick! I’m thick! I’m a total idiot!” he exclaimed with a goofy grin, fishing out his sonic from his pocket before pointing it at the locking mechanism on the wall. The light above the card and keypad flashed from red to green, the door popping open with a soft hiss.

“Come on! In in in!” Harry gestured before pushing them through the door, not that he needed to, seeing as they couldn’t have moved any faster. Harry began to follow, but lingered for just a moment, waving his sonic over the ghostly duo before rushing into the room. The muses reached forward angrily, the fog surrounding their billowing robes lashing out to get into the room before the door slammed shut with a metallic hiss, locking them out.

Hermione, Draco, and Lee chose that moment to fall to the floor, catching their breath after their brief period of excitement. They were all trying to come to terms with the horrifying situation they found themselves in when Harry suddenly gave a whoop as he leaped to his feet, smacking the palms of his hands against the door in triumph. 

“Ha! Take that, you vaporous, spectral ruffians! What’re you gonna do now?” Harry mocked with a condescending smirk, glaring confidently at the white phantom smiling face through the glass.

“What?!” Harry asked, whipping around with his wand and sonic at the ready.

“C-C-Corpse!” Hermione answered shakingly, looking slightly sick at the shriveled body lying exposed in the body bag on one of the four tables. Harry sighed.

“It’s alright, Hermione. I don’t think they’re gonna do anything.” Harry patted her on the back, his eyes trailing over the three other body bags left sealed. Turning away, he began to survey the room.

The clinic morgue was cold and small, with barely enough room to fit them all. Technically, this wouldn’t normally be an issue, but because of the recent increase in deaths, the room was packed with bodies left in plastic bags. Harry’s eyes considered them for a moment before looking up toward the ceiling, where his gaze caught a ventilation grate cycling warmer air out of the room.

“Are we safe in here?” Lee asked, eyeing the specter through the glass uneasily.

“Of course we’re safe. That door is a Cromanian Seal Vault. It’s airtight so nothing can get in.” Harry reassured the girl with a pat on the back.

“What the bloody hell are those things?” Draco gasped, his hand clenching his chest in an effort to catch his racing heart.

“Yes, I’d like to know that, too. What are you?” Harry turned to look at the smiling face of the white muse, who stayed at the window staring at them hungrily.

“What are you? What do you want?” Harry asked himself, his nose mere inches from the glass. His mind was firing thousands of different theories, hypotheses, and probabilities in a matter of seconds. He could smell a sort of energy emitting from the specters that reminded him vaguely of the ghost of Hogwarts, whom he had sensed when he had traversed the castle.

“Why did you follow us here?” This was another question that puzzled him. He could add it up to mere coincidence, but considering that these entities had followed them to the clinic where one of their victims was brought to while they traveled with a close relative to the deceased was something he couldn’t ignore.

They had come to the clinic for a reason. Harry was certain. They had come here for Lee. Harry would gamble on it. And now the muses were looking at him like he was a particularly tasty piece of meat. Harry frowned.

“Why are you looking at us like that?” Harry asked in confusion, slightly nervous as the muses began to laugh, their paddles glowing eerily green.

“Harry?”

Harry looked at Hermione and frowned, concerned by the pale tone of her skin and her wide, fear-filled eyes. Casting a look at Draco and Lee, he noticed that the too looked frightened, standing as if petrified. Raising an eyebrow in question, he turned to see what had the others so riled up.

His eyes widened as the body bags left on the table, only now they were sitting up, shifting slightly as if to look straight at the group of kids. Two of the corpses managed to get their heads free of the bags, allowing the cold green glow of their eyes to bore down upon them.

“Well, that’s just not fair,” Harry said dryly, staring off into space.

“AHH!” Hermione screamed, jumping away as a hand reached out toward her ankle, the arm wiggling wildly from the tear in the plastic bag.

The other four body bags began shaking violently, trying to tear from their plastic prisons. Gnarled hands ripped the bags to pieces as rotted, grotesque zombies pulled themselves away from them like some demented butterfly from a cacoon, their shriveled naked forms rising up before them.

Harry’s eyes darted up to the vent on the wall and rushed forward, moving toward the table on the left where one of the zombies was still struggling to break free. Harry quickly pushed the body off the table, lining it up before kicking it toward the wall.

Harry jumped onto the table and pulled out his sonic, aiming it at the bolts keeping the vent grate in place. While he was busy, Draco fired off a few spells that knocked the zombies back, buying Potter some time while fighting for his life. Hermione, on the other hand, had picked a stool from the corner and swung it wildly at the walking dead, one particularly good swing knocking the head off a zombie.

“Come on, come on!” Harry muttered as the final screw popped out, clicking on the floor.

“Yes! Come on!” Harry yelled as he yanked the grate off the vent, tossing it at one of the zombies as it lounged for Lee, knocking it off its feet.

Hermione looked up at him then threw the stool at the zombies, rushing over to help Harry lift Lee into the vent. Hermione soon followed with Draco not far behind, firing off a final curse before crawling in. Harry was the last to push himself in, his eyes catching the zombies reaching for the door to the morgue to let the phantoms in.

“Move as quickly as you can, they’re coming!” Harry shouted ahead, pushing himself forward on his elbows due to the tight confines of the ventilation system.

Unfortunately, progress was slow as the four crawled their way through the air ducts. A dip in the vent gave somewhat of a hint to progress, but because of the tight space they were forced to squeeze through some areas and movement was generally limited.

As they made their way through the ducts, the group moved over multiple areas where rows of grates pumped a stream of cold air into the vents, causing them to shiver slightly as the air licked at their skin. 

Minutes passed by, and after stopping to catch their breath, Lee looked up to see what lay ahead, her eyes squinting as they were assaulted by a steady beam of light.

“Guys, I think I see the way out!” She called back, her voice betraying her joy with freedom now in reach, despite there being a good twenty feet left to crawl.

“That’s great, Lee!” Hermione answered as Draco let out a sigh of relief. Harry shook his head before he gave a quick glance back, his eyes widening as he watched the eerie grey mist cascading down the dip in the shaft.

“Move move move!” shouted, pushing forward to gain some distance from the incoming fog. Draco looked out and screamed, pushing forward which caused the others to panic and move as fast as possible.

Harry growled. He knew they wouldn’t be able to get out quickly enough before the mist caught them. Looking around, his eyes danced across the grates to a series of panels to the side, lights flickering on and off illuminating the controls. Confused he read what the panel did, his eyes reading out the aliens symbols which roughly translated to ‘liquid nitrogen’.

It was then that Harry got an idea. Shifting around so that he was on his back, he held back as he waited for the fog to come closer, baiting it as he pulled out his sonic and aimed it at the panel.

“Come on. Come on, you know you want me. You know you do.” He muttered, his hearts pumping as his breathing quickened, watching as the fog reached forward, its tendrils mere inches from him.

“Harry, what are you doing back there?” Hermione called, panicking when she saw he had stayed behind.

“Come on, you want me. Come get me. Come get me! Get me!” Harry was practically shouting, his breath hitching as the vaper wrapped itself around his leg. 

“Harry!” Hermione screamed. It was then that Harry registered that the mist had long since passed the gas vents.

Harry screamed, activating the screwdriver which let out a high pitched buzz, sending sparks off the panels as a red light began blinking, blaring an alarm. Suddenly the vents around the mist flared to life, blasted it with cold nitrogen gas. Harry had to cover his ears as the mist let out a screech, retreating while leaving behind part of the fog trapped in a sculpture of ice.

Harry let out a sigh of relief, laying back against the floor while his chest rose up and down. He was glad that his bones were far stronger now, considering that his hearts were pounding hard enough to rip themselves out of his chest.

“Potter! Are you alive?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine!” Harry called up to Draco, licking his lips as he tried to catch his breath.

“Good. You hear that, Mudblood? Maybe now you’ll shut up!”

Harry couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the idiot, shifting himself around on his elbow after he had rested long enough. He took a final moment to look back at the swirling blocks of ice, before sighing and moving forward through the vent.  
-/ↀ\\-  
The sound of a foot kicking against metal was heard echoing through a vacant alleyway, mixed together with the steady hiss of steam rising from sewer grates. Suddenly the rusted bars gave way and fell to the pavement with a clang. A moment later, Lee pushed herself out of the vent and fell forward, huffing as her feet touched the ground.

Looking up Hermione soon joined her, the two girls reaching to grab hold of Draco to help him down. Finally, Harry was the last out, pulling himself through the vent opening about a minute later. As soon as he hopped out, he was assaulted by Hermione who began repeatedly hitting him over the head.

“What. Were. You. Thinking?!” Hermione hissed angrily, ignoring the boy’s indigent yelps as she hit him.

“Ow! Ow! Hermione, please! Stop hitting me!” Harry whined, growling when he noticed Draco snickering at his predicament. 

“And why should I? Give me a good excuse and I might not hurt you.” Hermione narrowed her eyes, keeping her hand up in the air ready to strike.

“I knew we wouldn’t have made it unless I came up with something! The mist would have been on us before we could get into the street!” Harry defended, his eyes looking at her open hand nervously, “Sure if we got lucky we would have made it out of the vent, but what then? The phantoms would still be on our tail. Sure it was reckless, but I’m alive, we’re alive, and now we’ve lost them.”

Hermione sighed, “Yes, that’s as good a reason as any.” Suddenly she grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, burying her bushy head into his shoulder, “Just don’t do something stupid like that again.”

Harry sighed before rubbing her shoulder, silently apologizing for terrifying the girl. As he did so he noticed Lee standing off to the side nervously kicking a stone. Frowning as a thought popped into his head, he let go of Hermione and turned to her, “You know I find it weird that Doctor Hayashida couldn’t see the specter, wonder why we could.”

“Y-Yeah, weird. Right...” Lee murmured, looking away from him.

As Harry’s eyes took on a curious look, he fished into his pocket to pull out a bronze cylinder object. Hermione immediately recognized it as his screwdriver, although now that she was able to get a good look at it noted how it was different from the old one. Brand new compared to the other, this one had a curvy handle with a long piece of metal attached on the side. The sonic gave a high pitched buzz as he waved it over Lee, its tip imitating a bright purple light.

When it was finished and Harry had read the information, his eyes darted up to the girl as his tongue popped into his cheek, trailing the outline of his gums before he clamped his mouth shut. 

“Right!” He exclaimed, shoving the screwdriver back into his pocket, “So, the Heibai Wuchang claim their victims by draining the life energy from their bodies, forming a psychic link to the corpse left behind. But, but! Children under eleven disappear. Why?”

“And you know what? After that, there’s one thing I can’t wrap my head around. One thing that’s been screaming at me the moment we met you, Lee.” Harry looked her squarely in the eye, his face mere inches from hers, “Why can you see through the perception filter?”

“Harry?” Hermione asked, confused.

“Sorry! With all the excitement, you’ve probably forgotten. I gave you two a perception filter to mask your identities.” He tapped a small device tied to his wrist, causing an image to phase in and out around Harry until he became a grown man of Asian descent.

“This is how I look to everyone else on the planet. You didn’t notice because I readjusted the settings to let us all see who we really are.” He pressed another button, reverting back to the familiar redhead before he began speaking again.

“The thing is, to everyone else we should look like adults, we should be the most uninteresting lot on the planet.” Harry let out a soft chuckle, pointing his finger between himself, Hermione, and Draco.

“I mean I’m just a regular bloke, Hermione’s an attractive young woman going about her day, and he’s a decrepit, fat, balding man sliding into his late sixties.” Harry said, ignoring the look of outrage Draco was giving him, focusing instead on Lee as his eyes took on a level of seriousness not uncommon on the face of an adult, “ If I’m right, and I think I am, then the reason why you know we’re your age is the same reason you can see the phantoms. So, why can you see us, Lee?”

“I-I...” Lee shifted her feet and looked away, suddenly feeling like cowering was a good option as tears formed at the corner of her eyes.

“Lee? Look at me. Please?” Harry spoke softly, reaching forward to guide her chin toward himself, locking his gaze with hers, “Be honest with me, because it’s the most important thing for you to do so right now, okay?”

Lee nodded.

Harry inhaled sharply, taking a moment to gather himself, then asked, “Have you ever done anything, make anything happen? Things you couldn’t explain when you were angry, or scared?”

“I’m… not supposed to tell,” Lee mumbled feebly, looking away.

“I can’t help but notice that wasn’t a denial.”

Lee blinked, staring at the boy who seemed to have made it his mission to help her. When he said nothing more but look at her, patiently waiting for her to gather herself, she sighed.

“They call us shamans. Freaks of nature that can do things. Evil things, they say. So the High Council has to register us so we don’t hurt others. They say they do it for the public safety and wellbeing, but...” Lee shook her head, brushing a lone tear that rolled down her cheek, “Mom and dad couldn’t do it. They kept my powers a secret, up until they died. It’s just me and… Pi.” 

Lee took a moment to sob, rubbing her arm over her eyes as she sniffed, “Well, I guess it’s just me now.”

“What do you mean, register?” Harry asked, and while soft, his voice carried an edge that suggested that he was trying to hold off his temper until he had gained all the facts.

Lee hesitated, biting her lip as she watched him hold himself back. When he noticed her reluctance, he allowed himself to smile and gestured for her to continue. Lee sighed. “The register takes place when a family’s children turn eleven. I heard they make us take a bunch of tests to see if we’re healthy. If we pass we go back to our families, but if we don’t then they take us to be registered.”

Lee suddenly let out an angry sob, her voice cracking as she began to shout, “They lie to parents, tell them that they’re taking us away for our ‘safety’. But Mom and dad found out the truth. They euthanize us! Then they make everyone forget we even existed!”

“Wait, y-you’re saying… the muggles on this planet kill magical children?” Draco asked in a shocked whisper, his paler than normal skin complimenting the terrified look in his eyes. The idea that muggles could in any way harm a wizard was a foreign one to the boy.

“Then they lie to the Interplanetary Parliament to cover up genocide!” Harry growled through clenched teeth, his tone sharp and warning of danger.

Hermione herself was sickened that those in authority would condone a practice so despicable. Then she recalled what humanity had done to witches and wizards in the past, the persecution and demonizing attitudes that forced the wizarding world to go into hiding. On reflection, she realized that what was happening here was a reflection of what possibly could have happened to her if the wizarding world hadn’t remanded a secret.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Draco shout, looking up as Harry started running out of the alley.

“Wait, what are you doing?!” Draco called, moving to run after the boy as Lee and Hermione moved to catch up. Harry managed to take a glance back, the others catching a look of hard, cold determination in his eyes.

“Fixing this.”  
-/ↀ\\-  
“Harry, where are we going?!” Hermione called, following after the redhead as he pushed his way through the crowded streets of Shan Shen. The four had been running for ten minutes, and while Harry looked as though he was taking a casual stroll in the park, the others looked close to collapse, huffing and panting with sweat pouring off their foreheads.

Hermione was leading the charge after the young timelord while holding Lee by the hand protective so she didn’t lose her. This was a good thing considering that the density of the crowd made it difficult to make out each other from the larger adults and would have made it easy to get separated. That being said Draco carried the rear, bearly keeping the two girls in view as he tiredly followed.

Speaking of the blonde farret, Draco pushed himself through the crows when he was rudely bumped into by a passerby, grunting as he rubbed his shoulder.

“Hey, watch it!” The boy sneered, shaking his head as he turned back around and continued on his way. Thankfully Harry had turned a corner where teh crowd had thinned out, allowing the others to easily following without getting lost in the tidalwave of people.

“Harry! Hey!” Hermione finally caught up to the boy, grabbing him by the shoulder to spin him around, “Harry, why did you run away…?”

Hermione looked up, realizing they were back on the street they had first arrived on, the blue police box standing proudly before them.

“The Tardis? What…?”

Harry ignored her and ran inside, Herminoe and Draco following soon after. When Lee crossed the threshold, she let out a startled squeak before running back out, staring at the exterior of the Tardis in wonder before stepping back in.

“Welcome to the Tardis, Lee! Wonderful, isn’t she?” Harry remarked, looking over to smile at the girl.

“What is it?” She asked, her mouth wide open in awe.

“She’s my very own time machine. She’s got a bit of milage, but who doesn’t like a mature woman?” He joked, giggling when the Tardis warbled in protest and embarrassment. Harry couldn’t help but blush a little before he got to work, moving toward the console in the middle of the room.

“I’ve scanned the phantoms to get an energy reading, try to figure out what we’re dealing with. What’s unique about them is that they seem to immite phasic energy.” Harry messed around with a few of the controls before placing his sonic screwdriver into a slot on the side of the panel.

“I’m putting the readings into the Tardis’ main computer to scan the planet for any evidence of the same wavelength concentration.” He punched in a few commands into what looked like a keyboard, pulling up a holographic image of the planet with several red lines wrapped around the sphere like weeds.

“Ha! There you are!” Harry shouted in delight, pointing to an area on the planet where there was a massive pocket of energy concentrated deep under the city.

“Harry, why are you looking into this?” Hermione asked, feeling nervous at the over enthusiasm her friend was exhibiting.

“Because we’re going to go and investigate it.” Harry replied casually, not bothering to look at her as he focused on the scans.

“You can’t be serious, Potter? We’re just kids, this is work for the proper authorities, not us.” Draco scoffed, crossing his arms as he waved him off.

Hermione nodded, “For once, I agree with Draco. This is crazy, Harry. This isn’t our problem.” She pleaded, trying to deter Harry from his decision, only to be immediately shot down.

“No no no! We can’t just leave!” Harry persisted, slapping his hand on the console to punctuate his point, “You heard what Lee said. You’ve seen what’s going on! That girl and everyone like her are caught between a supernatural force we do not understand and a genocidal government bent on exterminating every last magical individual on this planet! I can’t just step aside when there’s something I can do!”

“Like Doctor Hayashida?” Hermione pointed out, catching the boy off guard.

“What?” Harry said sharply, his eyes narrowed.

“You could have helped the doctor. You could have thought of something, you seem to be resourceful and able to think on your feet. So why didn’t you?” Hermione asked with her arms crossed, an accusation carried in her tone.

Harry stared at her for a moment, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to come up with an adequate answer. However, when he came up short, he just shrugged.

“That was different.”

“How? How is that possibly different?” Hermione pressed, frowning at his callous disregard at a man’s life. Even if the man had been a vile cockroach. She reminded herself, unconsciously rubbing her cheek.

“Because it just is!” Harry snapped, his tone startling them as it betrayed how angry he was getting. Draco and Hermione backed away eyes wide as Harry took a few moments to calm himself, reaching up to rub the bridge of his nose.

“Look, I freely admit, that was my bad. Maybe I could have done more, maybe I could have tried harder. But in the here and now, we have an impossible situation on our hands and we need to focus. Look at her.” Harry pointed at Lee, who had chosen to hide behind the console, “She and thousands of others like her will die if we don’t help. I don’t know what force is behind these specters, but I would bet it has something to do with the shamans.”

“What makes you say that?” Draco asked, not following his logic.

“At the clinic I looked up the medical records of ‘virus victims’. It said that some children disappeared, and all of them were below the age of eleven.” Harry smiled when he saw the gears turning in the two students' minds.

“Now call me paranoid, but if I was a tyrannical government bent on disposing magical children, I’d destroy the evidence, not classify them as ‘missing’.”

Hermione thought about what he had said, finding it hard to refute his logic. Turning to look at Lee, she saw a girl who was frightened and alone, but also looked at them with a small semblance of hope. Sighing, she cradled her head to nurse a headache, nodding after she weighed their options.

“Alright, you’re right. We should help.”

“Wait, you’re agreeing with Potter?!” Draco shouted, looking at the girl in shock.

“If we don’t help then there’s no telling what could happen! I’m not having that on my conscience!” She said before walking over to Harry, seeing if she could help him with the controls.

“This is indiotic.” Draco grumbled, walking away to sit by the fireplace a sulk. Harry danced around the panel working the controls, pointing out nobs he wanted Hermione to turn before he ended his dance with the pull of a lever. The time roder came to life, wheezing as the piston moved up and down, and the Tadris blinked in and out until it faded from existence.

Unknown to the group, a hooded figure was watching the Tardis from the shadows, speaking into a communication device the moment the disappeared. 

“Update. Suspects have dematerialized to unknown location.”

“Are the suspects traced?”

“Confirmation. Yes.”

“Lock onto signal and regroup. Orders are to eliminate the abominations. Complete disposal.”

“Affirmative.”  
-/ↀ\\-  
Please read and leave a review! Reviews for me are like potato chips. One isn’t enough and once I’ve got a taste I’m hooked!


	8. Into the Crypt

The Reapers of Shan Shen

Chapter 8-Into the Crypt

Over the city, resting on a hillside at the center of the metropolis, was an old monastery whose faded stone structure stood out from the brick and metal. Abandoned years before, it stood as a reminder of the old days, the old ways, before innovation and progress had swallowed the planet whole. On most days, the building remained quiet save for the occasional homeless individual taking shelter. Today was not most days.

The sound of the Tardis materializing echoed through the empty halls of the monastery, the wheezing of the time rotor growing louder as the outline of the time machine became visible. With a thud, the Tardis landed, the door swung open as its passengers stepped out.

“Where are we?” Hermione asked as she took a few steps forward, spinning around to take in the interior architecture. Harry followed soon after, gently pulling Lee with him as Draco followed reluctantly.

“I’m not sure, Lee?” Harry spoke, the question presented in his eyes.

“This is the Temple of Thamya Shu. But... I don’t understand.” Lee trailed off as she bit her lip, her eyes shining at the beauty and color inside the structure.

“Hmm? Why’s that?” Harry asked, eyeing her curiously.

“This place was abandoned almost a hundred years ago, but there’s no cracks, no broken glass, no crumbling stone. It’s like it hasn’t aged at all.”

“Hmm,” Harry hummed as he pulled out his screwdriver, the violet light buzzing at the end as he waved it around to pick up the readings on the environment.

“There’s a field around the building, keeping it stable and in pristine shape.” Harry pursed his lips, reading over the results, “Malfoy? Is there a spell that can maintain the structure of a building? Perhaps keep the locals from tearing it down as well?” 

Draco blinked at being addressed, before slowly nodding his head, “Preservation charms, along with muggle repelling spells and ‘notice-me-nots’.”

“It’s just as well that the people who stayed here put those spells in place, then,” Hermione added, staring up at a nearby wall.

“Oh?”

“They left behind some mementos of our ‘friends’,” Hermione stated, pointing at what she had been studying. Etched upon the wall above them was a painting of the shamans in their golden age, creating and advancing the arcane skills beyond the limits of what could have been considered possible. Healing disease, crafting rituals, prolonging life. These were but of a few of their accomplishments on display.

Further down, however, was what drew their attention the most. Painted in great detail were the shamans who battled against a horde of the undead, casting spells and enchantments from staffs of power, holding back the forces led by two hauntingly familiar figures, their black and white phantom forms pointing forward to direct the charge. Below this, the hieroglyphs of Shan Shen were carved into the wall, stating a warning to those who read. 

“When the age of Shamans end, the Veil will open and chaos rend, in the demon’s den you'll be swallowed whole, by the Reapers of the Beast below.”

“Reapers, so that’s what you are.” Harry whispered to himself, running his fingers over the canvas. A smile graced his lips, spinning around as he clapped his hands together.

“So this, this is a monument to their history with the phantoms, a testament to their struggle with evil! This!” The redhead gestured to the mural with excitement, clearly impressed by what he had seen, “This is brilliant! Your people fought these things for centuries, Lee! Keeping them away from an unassuming populous.”

“Then, then your government came and killed them. The fools.” Harry growled, shaking his head as he looked up at the painting sadly.

“Does it say anything about how we’re supposed to stop those things?”

“Well… no.” Harry huffed, feeling a little cheated but soon managed to retain his smiling demeanor, “But! It does tell us where to go to beat them.”

With that, Harry moved past the others, making his way over to a sundial constructed in the center of the structure. Following him, the others watched as Harry got onto his hands and knees, crawling around as he muttered to himself, reading a set of runes etched into the floor.

With an exclamation of excitement, Harry jumped up and with one fluid motion whipped out both his wand and sonic, the screwdriver emitting a high pitched buzzing while the tip of the wand glowed a pale blue light. A moment lader the runes on the floor lit up with a faint white light, causing a crack to appear in the stones that formed a large circle.

With a grunt, Harry began to point both his wand and sonic upwards, causing the stone circle to lift from the floor into an alcove in the ceiling, revealing a cavern hidden beneath. At the mouth there was a ladder made of robe and wood.

“Catacombs. Seriously?” Hermione grimaced, inwardly cursing to every deity in existence just to cover her bases.

“Do you think it’s... safe?” Draco questioned, looking into the deep dark depths with a bit of apprehension.

“What? You mean the big, scary black pit that leads to God knows where? Sure, nothing to worry about!” Harry exclaimed cheerfully. He chose to ignore the indignant looks he was getting from the others.

“Well, off we pop then,” Harry said, climbing down the rope ladder into the darkness. Hermione and Draco took one look at each other and sighed, before they followed after him, with Lee climbing down soon after.

At the bottom, their surroundings were shrouded in pitch black darkness, the light from the hole above the only thing allowing them to see. Being the one with the best vision, Harry moved around looking around for something to use to light the way. Lucky, the nearby wall was lined with unlit torches, which he took and brought it over to Hermione.

“Umm, oh. Ah, do you mind?” Harry asked her sheepishly, gesturing to the cloth tip slathered in oil. Hermione managed a smile as she took out her wand, casting a quick incendio, alighting the oil in flames.

“Right, dark and creepy and easy to get lost in. Don’t touch anything and we should be fine!” Harry said, pointing his torch forward to light the way. The group followed Harry as he started looking at the walls, studying the markings carved on them to determine where they needed to go. 

“Harry, what do you think we’ll find down here?” Hermione asked, walking alongside the boy as the light of the torch danced across their faces.

“Honestly, I don’t know. The Reapers have just started popping up recently if the reports are to be believed, so something must be causing them. Hopefully whatever’s down here can be used to stop it.”

There was a moment of silence between the two, as Hermione bit her lip. She took a moment to look at Harry’s features, a question forming in her mind.

“So, how did you do all this? How are you you, yet still not you?” She asked.

“You mean regeneration? Didn’t I explain that?” Harry cocked an eyebrow at her, frowning when she shook her head, “I was dying, so the artron energy inside me, the same energy that makes the change, killed off every cell in my body and regenerated it all into new living tissue within a moment.”

There was a pause.

“What was that like?” Hermione whispered.

“What, dying?” Harry took a moment to look at her, considering the question, “You know how they say that dying is as painless as falling asleep? They’re lying.”

Harry walked forward, a slight edge to his voice hiding an emotion that Hermione couldn’t decide was either pain or anger, “Dying is a nightmare. A painful bottomless terror that makes you relieve your worst memories all at once. It’s enough to drive you mad.”

The group made it to a junction in the path, leading off in three different directions with small alcoves lining the walls. Harry began reading the markings on the walls trying to decide which direction they needed to go.

While Harry and Herminoe were busy with each other, Draco and Lee began looking around in curiosity. The walls around them held several alcoves in them, each holding a large green stone that glow softly in the dark.

“Harry, the professors said that you were poisoned.” Hermione probed, gauging exactly how Harry would respond. When he only gave a tired grunt, she continued.

“How did that happen?”

“Let’s just say I didn’t grow up with kind people.” Harry replied without pause, frowning as he ran his fingers over the hieroglyphics.

“Harry, are you saying that…?”

“Hermione, I really don’t want to talk about it, I really don’t.” Harry said in an irritated tone, turning around to look at her with eyes she had never seen before on another person. There was something ethereal and otherworldly about them, with depth of emotion that sent a shiver down her spine.

A moment later Harry looked away from her, his attention drawn to something behind her. 

“Draco, what are you doing?” Harry asked owlishly. Hermione frowned and turned, watching as Draco began to pick up one of the green stones.

“This is interesting. I bet this could fetch a high price back on Earth, eh?” Draco said, holding the stone in his hand while showing it off, not noticing as the stone began to glow brighter and pulse.

“Draco, put that down. I don’t think you should--!” Hermione reached forward to take the stone away, her hand covering Draco’s as the stone flashed brightly.

“Wait, don’t--!” Harry shouted, moving to grab Hermione to pull her away. Unfortunately he was a moment too late, as just when his hands were about to grip her arm both she and Draco warped out of existence, taken away by the pull of an alien portkey.  
-/ↀ\\-  
In another section of the catacombs, a green light flashed before depositing its passengers on the ground below with a hard thud. Hermione and Draco both groaned, feeling the after effects of traveling via portkey. After successfully keeping down the contents of their stomachs, they took a moment to look around before realizing that Harry and Lee were now gone, which could only mean that they had been teliported away and were now lost.

As this thought entered her mind, Hermione saw red as she realized the predicament the blond ferret had gotten them in. Hermione shot up immediately, clutching the stone while looking at him as if she was going to beat in his head with it.

“MALFOY!”

“Bloody hell, are you trying to make my ears bleed?” Draco moaned, expressing his displeasure by rubbing a finger in his ear.

“You idiot! Didn’t you hear Harry tell us not to touch anything?! What is wrong with you?!” Hermione yelled, marching up to the spoiled brat with murder in her eyes.

“Alright, I’m sorry! I didn’t think it would be a portkey!” Draco raised his hands up in surrender, more to get her off his back than anything else.

“Just… just be quiet while I figure out what to do!” Hermione said as she pulled out her wand, waving it over the stone. After a few moments of doing this she frowned, concentrating harder as she began muttering to herself. When still nothing happen, Hermione began to panic.

“Damn it! Why isn’t it working?!” Hermione growled, smacking the stone a few times as if to beat it into cooperation.

“What’s wrong?” Draco asked, slightly annoyed by the girl's antics.

“I’m trying to reverse the portkey’s travel matrix to send us back where we were, but nothing I try is working the way the book said it should.” Hermione frowned, flipping the stone over, “It must have a completely different spell layout than what they have on Earth.”

“Pfft. A lot of use you turned out to be.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Hermione shouted, dropping the stone as her cheeks flushed red.

“I mean the moment Potter disappears you fall flat on your arse. Not much use, are you? Suppose it’s not all your fault, though, probably in your breeding. Bet Potter sees it too, only keeps you around as a pet.” 

Draco was taken aback when Hermione’s hand slapped him across the face, unprepared for when the angry witch pressed her nose right up to his.

“Don’t ever refer to me as a pet, again.” Hermione hissed, pointing her finger in Draco’s face, “I’m a person and I deserve respect! I’m not some animal you can kick around as you please!”

“And stop calling me Mudblood before I hex you into next week!” She threatened, her other hand grasping her wand as if itching to fire off a spell. Draco stared at her for a long time, eyes widened in shock. Slowly his surprise fell away into a scowl, smiling at her through clenched teeth.

“Fine, Granger.” Draco bit out, looking as if he had sucked on a lemon.

“Thank you!” Hermione huffed, taking what she could get as she walked away.

“So, I suppose we’ll wait here until Potter sniffs us out.” Draco drawled, leaning against the wall.

“You think he’ll find us?” Hermione questioned, surprised that Draco would have any confidence in Harry.

“As much as I don’t like it, Potter seems to know what he’s doing. I’m confident that he would be able to track us down.” Draco begrudgingly admitted, pouting as he did so.

“Right....”

Draco looked at her strangely, not expecting such a half-hearted response. “You don’t sound very enthusiastic.”

There was a pause, Hermione taking the time to gather her thoughts.

“I just can’t get over how much he’s changed. I mean, I didn’t know him well before, but it felt like a I was beginning to know him.” Hermione grimaced, “Now he’s something completely different, and I don’t know if whatever that is is a good thing.”

“I think you may be overreacting a little.” Draco said with a frown, backing away when Hermione wheeled around on him.

“Overreacting?!” Hermione snapped, glaring at him angry, “My friend, the first friend I’ve ever had, died, and now he’s turned into this… wild, uncontrollable thrill-junky that doesn’t care when people die right in front of him!” She shouted, her breath hitching with emotion.

Draco continued to look at the girl with an unreadable expression, observing her as she brought her emotions under control. When she had calmed down enough to think, she turned away and began to study the hieroglyphs on the wall.

“You’re scared of him.”

Hermione stopped moving, his words echoing in her ears.

“Maybe...” She admitted eventually, looking at him with a torn expression, before looking away with a shake of her head, “I don’t know what to think.”

Herminoe shook her head, deciding to leave her thoughts on Harry alone for now, “Well, you might want to stay, but if I know Harry, he’ll be following the markers to the center of this maze, so we should do the same.”

Draco grumbled but agreed with that, stepping away from the wall to follow the girl as she seemed to know the basics on how to read the markers. Unfortunately, unknown to them both, a mist had begun to form across the floor around their feet.  
-/ↀ\\-  
Meanwhile, in another section of the catacombs, Harry marched through the maze with frantic determination in his eyes. As he darted through turns and junctions, Lee was barely able to keep up, sweating slightly as she would have to break out into a jog from time to time just so she wouldn’t lose him.

“Come on, we need to hurry. No telling what’s down here.”

“Where are we going?” Lee huffed, catching her breath as Harry looked around.

“To the center of the labyrinth. Hermione’s a clever girl, she’ll know to follow the markers.” Harry said, pointing at the markings on the wall. Deciding on a direction, he was off again, causing Lee to sigh heavily as she chased after him.

As the two traversed the crypt, Lee couldn’t help but ponder over the strange boy. While she was appreciative of his help, she couldn’t help but feel a small amount of apprehension when being in his presence. The feeling had started when she had first met him, but having the others around had dampened the effect.

But now, being close to him, she could actually feel his emotions rolling off of him in waves, and rarely was any of it positive. It was enough that it almost made her psychically ill.

“So, Hermione. You seem fond of her.” Lee mustered the courage to say, hoping to dig into what was going on with him inside.

“She’s my best friend.” Harry answered without pause, turning around a corner.

“Really?” Lee paused, curling her lips into a frown. “Then why do you lie to her?”

“Lie? I’m afraid I don’t understand.” Harry eyed her curiously, wondering where the girl was going with this.

“The mask you wear, the one hiding who you really are, deep inside.”

Harry paused, not bothering to look at her as he focused his attention on anything else, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t you?” Lee pressed, holding a hand up to her chest, “I know how you feel. I can sense it, sometimes, like it’s calling to me. Screaming.”

Harry spun around and glared at her, his eyes flashing with confusion as well as a small amount of anger.

“I didn’t say anything before because I thought it would be rude, but you’ve been getting louder since we arrived at the clinic. You try to make yourself look happy and friendly. But inside, I hear anger, hatred…”

“Stop it.” Harry growled, which was ignored by Lee.

“And it screamed loudest from the word of a doctor. A word that makes you seething in rage.”

“I said--!”

“Freak.”

Lee was unprepared for when Harry lashed out and pinned her against the wall, his eyes boring into hers like hot coals tried in the fire. He brought his face close to hers, scowling as he growled at her..

“Not one word. Not one more word.” He hissed, his toned warning a threat of pain if she did not comply. Lee let out a choked gasp, trying to breath while the timelord had her throat pinned by his arm.

“You are walking on dangerous ground, Ms. Shan. I advise to tread… carefully.” He glared at the girl, loosening his hold on her slowly allowing her to breath again. Lee gulped, but held her ground, ignoring the sudden urge to run and hide.

“There it is. What motivates behind the mask.” She said softly looking into his eyes, as if seeing him for the first time. The silence hung in the air around them as she studied him, feeling his emotions bubbling below the surface, wayward thoughts echoing from his subconscious into her mind.

“What did they do to you?” Lee whispered, a lone tear trailing down her cheek as she broke the silence, not able to understand such cruelty to one’s kin.

“Too much.” Harry said simply, his voice barely a whisper.

Lee wanted to say something more, but paused as a curious look crossed Harry’s features, staring at something behind her. Gently pulling her away, Harry lifted the torch to the etchings marking the wall, studying them with a growing expression of horror.

“Lee?” Harry spoke, stepping away from the wall without looking away from it, “Remember what I said about your people nobly fighting against the Reapers.”

“Yes?” Lee asked hesitantly, not liking his sudden change in attitude.

“I’m not sure it was so noble after all.”

He brought the torch forward to illuminate the wall, allowing her to see the painting on display. In it, the Shamans were partaking in a ritual, surrounding a crack of white the hung in the air with monsters and demons spilling through. Above the crack, a priest stood before an altar preparing a sacrifice for the ritual, holding a dagger over the body of a bound young boy threateningly. It did not take a genius to realize what was about to happen.

“We should keep moving.” Harry said tiredly, pulling away Lee by the shoulder. However, as he turned, his body froze with dread as he stared down the barrel of a plasma rifle.

“Bugger.”  
-/ↀ\\-  
Hermione and Draco struggled as they were dragged into the chamber, the gnarled fingers of the Reapers wrapped tightly around their arms to prevent their escape. Stumbling forward, the two took a moment to look around in astonishment at the vast chamber they were brought to, their eyes drawn to a fissure of light that hung in the center suspended in the air. As they stared at the fissure, the tear pulsed brightly.

“Briiing them to meee.”

The Reapers obeyed, forcing Draco and Hermione towards the fissure. Not liking where this was going, the two children began to kick and scream as they tried to break free from the spectres’ hold.

“Cooome children, don’t beee afraid.”

The voice echoed with a silky, devious tone, cooing as the Reapers forced the Draco and Hermione on their knees.

“Look iiinto my liiight!”

Panicking, the two frightened children tried to look anywhere but the source of light, instinct telling them to do so would be dangerous. Unfortunately, upon seeing this, the Reapers forcefully grabbed their faces, forcing them to look forward as their fingers crushed their cheeks. In a final bid of defiance, they both closed their eyes as tightly as possible.

Their struggling proved futile, however, as the Reapers’ fingers pried their eyelids open. They struggled at first, trying to get away, before a heavy veil muddled their minds making it hard to think. The last thought that went through Hermione’s mind as her world began to darken was a feeling overwhelming fear. That fear soon fell away as the Reapers stepped away, all feeling replaced by a melancholy indifference. A cold, hungry laughter echoed throughout the chamber as the children knelt slack and relaxed, their pupils dilating into a sickly green.  
-/ↀ\\-


	9. Chapter 9

The Reapers of Shan Shen

Chapter 9-The Commander

Harry groaned as he was roughly thrown to the ground, a sharp kick to the gut knocking the air from his lungs. Lee soon joined him on the floor, her face shoved uncaringly into the dirt.

Harry observed as seven armed soldiers moved about the small chamber they had been dragged into, setting up equipment and examining weapons. In any other situation, this fact would be met with resounding relief, but in light of current circumstances that was not to be. After all, when being chased by supernatural serial killers from another world, it didn’t help that those in authority wanted you dead as well.

Not that they aren’t taking their sweet time doing it. Harry grumbled internally, hissing as another sharp kick impacted his stomach. His first adventure through time and space was just going swell.

Harry was pulled from his musings as a heavy boot came down with a crunch inches from his face. Looking up, he was met with the massive, intimidating form of a heavily muscled soldier, looking down at him with a hard expression.

“Well, hello there, Short Round. Get separated from Doctor Jones?”

The brute grimaced, taking quick aim of Harry’s face before punching him hard on the nose. The punch filled the air with a loud crack as Harry’s skull banged against the ground. Harry was stunned by the blow for a few moments, twisting his jaw and now bleeding nose before releasing an indignant, “Ow!”

This seemed to egg the brute on, and Lee began to cry when she realized the beast of a man was going to hit him again.

“That’s enough!”

The brute paused and looked up, saluting as he noticed the imposing man standing behind them with a calculating look in his eyes. He was a tall man, aged and greying, but no less strong in body and carrying an air that demanded respect.

The soldier that had kicked Harry saluted the man and backed away, going to help the other soldiers in their tasks. The man watched him go, sighing through his nose before staring at the two children for a moment as he spoke.

“Hello, my name is Commander Chi Hong of the People’s Security Force,” The man offered as he sat down on an equipment case before the two children, “There, are our guests comfortable, hmm?”

“Smashing.” Came a grumbled response. The Commander chuckled lightly.

“I’m sure, and I must say you’ve chosen an interesting place to go about doing that. Not to mention the toys you play with.” He spoke casually, lifting up the perception device Harry had been using to pass as an adult, “Children your age getting into this amount of trouble? Tell me, why are you here?”

The question was met with silence.

“You know the usual point of an interrogation is for one person to ask questions and the other to answer,” Hong stated off-handedly. When Harry still refused to answer, he was rewarded with a strong slap across the face.

“Of course, if this is more to your liking...” The man left the sentence hanging with an uncaring shrug of his shoulders. He raised his palm to strike again, but Harry’s voice stayed his hand.

“I know what the shamans did,” Harry stated, glancing up at the man through the fringes of his auburn hair.

The Commander lowered his hand, a brow raised in question. Harry nodded toward the adjacent wall, where the hieroglyphs told of the human sacrifices practiced by the magical natives of the planet. Getting up, Commander Hong stepped forward and studied the image for himself, taking a moment to appreciate the work put into it before speaking.

“This painting says it all, doesn’t it?” Hong whispered, his eyes seeming far away as he studied the lines on the wall, “There was a time our kind never would have thought of committing the crimes forced upon us. And yet here we are.”

“I’m sorry.” Harry offered genuinely while Lee looked between the two in confusion.

“I don’t understand.” She said, leaving the unspoken question hanging in the air.

“The shamans murdered thousands to enhance their powers, so your government retaliated by wiping them out. Now they’re hunting down people like you to prevent it from happening again.” Lee stared at Harry with a horrified expression. Shaking his head he looked up at the Commander pleading, “But you don’t have to do that! The old Orders are gone, their knowledge lost, you’ve seen to that! It’s not the place of the young to pay for the sins of the elders.”

“And what about tomorrow? What about in the years to come that these children grow to be even worse than those who came before? No.” Hong shook his head definitely, conviction ringing in his voice. “I am thinking of the good of the community, the populous, the world. Compared to that, what is the death of a few?”

“And what of the people? What will they think of their government condoning genocide?” Harry questioned.

“If they knew the things your kind has done they’d call us heroes. But as it is…” Commander Hong paused, searching for the right words to say, “The people should not know such things exist. They shouldn’t have to share in this burden. Only those who it is necessary to inform, and even then, they will have to live with what they must do.”

There was a moment of silence between the two.

“And does that include the Shadow Proclamation? I’m sure they’d be interested in what you’re doing here, seeing as this violates article 16 that prohibits the extermination of a species with ‘unique’ abilities without justifiable cause.”

“I think their manipulation of our society, conspiring to make themselves our slavemasters counts as justifiable.” The Commander pointed out.

“And does that include children, hmm? How can you justify the murder of children?” Harry asked with a slight edge to his voice, growing angry with the man.

“I justify it because it is right.” The Commander replied simply.

“I fail to see how the murder of children benefits anyone.” Harry bit out, having lost all sympathy he had for the man and his convictions.

“Of course not. You’re the one who’s going to die.” With that he stood, turning to the nearest soldier that wasn’t currently occupied with equipment. “Dispose of them.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Harry spoke up, causing the two men to turn to him in question.

“Oh? And why is that?” Hong asked, his eyebrow quirked into his hairline in amusement.

“The virus, of course.”

All humor left the Commander’s eyes in an instant, stepping forward menacingly, “What?” He bit out.

Harry laughed, “Did you think that the sickness plaguing the city a coincidence? Did you think the deaths in any way natural? Heavens no, we needed to test it first to learn if there were any faults when interacting with the body’s natural defenses.”

“And why is that relevant?”

The boy’s cruel smile grew wider as he took in the officer’s thinly veiled anxiety. “Because beneath this monastery lies a device that we have developed that will disperse a plague upon this world that will finally rid the shamans of your kind, once and for all.”

The Commander frowned. “Then why tell me?”

“The runic arrays haven’t been configured. It won’t discriminate between us and you. I may not like you, but I won’t risk my kind just to be rid of you and the other muggle filth.”

Lee’s eyes widened at the acid dripping in Harry’s voice, quickly snapping her attention to the Commander to see what his response would be. The officer narrowed his eyes dangerously, “You’re lying.”

“Do you want to take that risk?” Harry asked, a smirk rising from his bloody lips, “The clock is ticking. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.”

The Commander’s demeanor shifted instantly. With reflexes quicker than they could react to, he backhanded Harry across the face, the sound of flesh against flesh echoing throughout the chamber. The young timelord took a moment to register what happened, turning to glare defiantly at the man as he spat out a glob of blood and spittle, even as the bruise on his cheek healed before the Commander’s eyes.

“Feel better?”  
-/ↀ\\-

Harry and Lee led the Commander and his men through the twisting maze of the crypt, motivated by the guns pointed directly at their backs. The fact that there was no doubt in their minds that the soldiers wouldn’t hesitate to gun down a pair of children settled heavily upon their minds. That they might even enjoy doing it didn’t help to ease them, either. However, Harry was not idle.

While they were forced through the catacombs, Harry kept his eyes focused on the walls, spending every crucial moment to study and understand the story of the shaman people. As they traversed deeper and deeper, the events surrounding the emergence of the Reapers became clearer, and with it, he began to formulate a solution to deal with them.

It was as they were reaching a spiral staircase leading deeper underground that Harry stumbled upon a reference to a ‘tear of light’, with further study suggesting that it was in fact a rip in the fabric of space-time. It seemed that in their arrogance, the shamans had dabbled in human sacrifice in order to experiment with what the Time Lords had mastered billions of years before. Only, instead of opening a pathway to travel the flow of time, they had released something from outside this dimensional plane.

It was then that Harry began to plan, his highly evolved brain working far beyond what would have been possible if he were still human. He concluded that the solution to their problem concerning the genocidal locals could be solved simply enough. The Reapers, not so much. He had lied quite convincingly to leer them into what he hoped would be an effective trap, but it was troubling him on how to deal with the Tear.

Harry knew for a fact from the hieroglyphs that the fissure itself had been created by an arithmetic sequence etched into the walls of the chamber that it resided in. Apparently, the designer of the sequence had died along with several others when they first opened the tear. If there was one language he could unravel and bend to his will no matter the situation, it was the language of numbers, and if he could just gain a few minutes to study and understand the pattern, he could easily find a way to close the fissure for good.

However, temporal fissures were always tricky things to deal with, even more so seeing as this one seemed to be the result of magical interference. What’s worse, he didn’t know the first thing about ritual magic or runic configuration. If he was to reverse what the shamans had done, he needed to study the sequence thoroughly, and if it turned out to be a bust he would have to either learn on the fly or just wing it.

Harry took a moment to look between a series of tunnels that appeared in their path, making it seem as though he were determining which way to go next, taking discrete glances back at the soldiers following close behind. There wasn’t much to note about their equipment, as it was the standard-issued stuff that was typical of this period. However, there was one thing that caught his eye. Hiding a smirk he looked over to Lee, he was standing as close to him as she could, clearly shaken up by their previous and current treatment.

“Lee, I have a plan,” Harry whispered, keeping his voice low so as to not be overheard by the others.

“What?” The girl said, startled by his address, noticing that his injuries earned from the brute soldier and the Commander had healed to the point that they were now nonexistent.

“Shhh!” Harry hissed, glancing back quickly, sighing in relief that the soldiers still hadn’t noticed them speaking. “I’ve been studying the wall hieroglyphs. I think I know how to fix this whole mess, but I need you to do exactly what I tell you. Can you do that?”

Lee hesitated, fearing that whatever mad scheme the boy had come up with would get them killed. However, seeing as they were probably going to be killed anyway, she found herself nodding her head, deciding a gamble was better than nothing.

Harry smiled and nodded his head, turning back he pointed to one of the soldiers, “You! Come up here!”

“Why should I?” The grunt sneered, glaring at the timelord with contempt.

“I need a light to see. There’s a junction of tunnels and I need to be able to read the hieroglyphs carefully or we’ll all get lost.”

The young soldier frowned and looked to the Commander, who after a moment nodded his head and gestured him to go ahead. The young man grunted but obeyed, stepping forward as requested.

When he reached Harry, the boy held out his hand expectantly, raising an eyebrow in challenge when the soldier looked as though he was about to refuse. Growling, he reached into his duffle bag and handed the flashlight to Harry, smirking when the metal device smacked painfully into the boy’s hands.

“Thank you.” Harry bit out sarcastically, glaring at the man before fiddling with the device to turn it on. He made a show of looking down the tunnels, despite already knowing which way they needed to go. When he figured that he had stalled long enough, he turned the flashlight off.

“Right this should be the way.” Nodding to himself, Harry turned to hand the flashlight back when his foot snagged on a stone, stumbling against the soldier causing them both to fall to the floor.

“Sorry!” Harry offered quickly, nervously brushing the soldier off of dirt as the man angrily hoisted himself off the ground.

“Get off me, you damn fool!” The soldier shouted angrily as he shoved the redhead to the side, glaring at him with hate before he turned around and stocked off.

“And a howdo-youdo to you as well,” Harry muttered, sending a smirk toward Lee whose eyes widened at the belt of grenades he held discreetly in front of himself, keeping it out of sight of the Commander and his men.

“Well, let’s get a move on, shall we?” Harry said loud enough for the others to hear though his eyes were gazing into Lee’s pointedly. After a moment and a sudden way of determination, the girl nodded to him.

“Spleaded.” Harry’s smile grew mischievous as put his hand on her arm and walked forward, entering the tunnel with a grenade held firmly in his grasp.

“When I pull the pin, run.” He muttered into her ear, his eyes picking an alcove in the wall of the tunnel that was structurally weaker than the rest, perfect to place the explosive.

Harry guided them both through and slowed their pace, waiting for the Commander and his men to enter with them. With any luck, he might be able to take them out in the process. As the last soldier walked through the tunnel’s mouth, the two children had passed the alcove, where Harry pulled the pin and threw the grenade inside.

“Move!” He shouted, rushing forward as Lee quickly followed behind. The Commander angrily shouted for his men to chase after them, only to cry out in surprise when. Just as the first two soldiers had rushed forward after their prisoners, the wall exploded in dirt and debris.

The whole tunnel shook from the explosion, rippling throughout the endless caverns with a loud rumbling echo. Harry and Lee ran as fast as they could, not daring to stop as the roof of the tunnel began to cave in, quickly collapsing toward them. In a panic and a strange sense of curiosity, Lee began to turn to look behind her.

“Run! Don’t look back! Just run!” Harry screamed at her, seeing the tunnel opening up ahead. Lee snapped her attention back toward what was in front of her, both kids sprinting as the tunnel’s collapse began to snap at their heels.

“AHH!” Harry and Lee cried out together as they jumped the final distance, rolling forward as dust and rocks flew out of the tunnel exit behind them. Both children fell to the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of them, landing on their stomachs with a resounding Oof!

As the dust settled around them, Harry opened his eyes and looked around, sighing that his plan had worked. The tunnel had opened up into a cavern lit by bioluminescent moss that grew on the stalactites hanging from the ceiling, basking them in soft colors of orange, blue, and green. Further ahead the cave broke off into several man-made passageways carved into the rock.

Lee sturred beside him, growling as she rolled over.

“In the future, remind me to ignore your plans, seeing as they almost got us killed!” Lee bit out angrily, clearly her normally quiet demeanor gone after what they had just experienced.

“You didn’t voice any objection before when you saw me holding the grenades.” Harry pointed out.

“I thought you were going to threaten them, not try to blow us up!” Lee snapped.

“It got us away from Hong and his men, didn’t it?” Harry offered in return, holding out his hand for Lee to hold onto. Huffing, the girl accepted his help, rising up to stand and dust herself off before looking around.

“So, what now?” Lee asked, taking a moment to study her new surroundings.

“We stick to what we were doing before our little… interruption. Follow the walls and find the center then look for the others. Then we can figure out what to do next.” Harry nodded to one of the archways up ahead, “This way.

And so the two children, both alien to ourselves yet so much like us, marched into the deep unknown, ready to face whatever might await them. One went with a hesitant drive to move forward, wanting to face what had stolen what remained of her family from her. The other, who had never known family, marched on longing to be reunited with the closest thing to that he had ever found, the only person he had ever met to think of him as an equal. His first friend.

He just hoped that she was alright. And God help this pathetic if she wasn’t.  
-/ↀ\\-

Author’s Note: Soooo, new chapter! Yay! I know in the update I said at most this would be out sometime in February, but it started to get so long that I had to split it into two parts. Hopefully the next chapter won’t take forever. Good news is that we’re almost at the finish! Even better news is that it won’t be the end of the story! I’ve been getting the plot outline finalized for the sequel, so that will be fun to preview at the end of this.


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